This review examines the direct effects of climate change on insect herbivores. Temperature is identified as the dominant abiotic factor directly affecting herbivorous insects. There is little evidence of any direct effects of CO2 or UVB. Direct impacts of precipitation have been largely neglected in current research on climate change. Temperature directly affects development, survival, range and abundance. Species with a large geographical range will tend to be less affected. The main effect of temperature in temperate regions is to influence winter survival; at more northerly latitudes, higher temperatures extend the summer season, increasing the available thermal budget for growth and reproduction. Photoperiod is the dominant cue for the seasonal synchrony of temperate insects, but their thermal requirements may differ at different times of year. Interactions between photoperiod and temperature determine phenology; the two factors do not necessarily operate in tandem. Insect herbivores show a number of distinct life‐history strategies to exploit plants with different growth forms and strategies, which will be differentially affected by climate warming. There are still many challenges facing biologists in predicting and monitoring the impacts of climate change. Future research needs to consider insect herbivore phenotypic and genotypic flexibility, their responses to global change parameters operating in concert, and awareness that some patterns may only become apparent in the longer term.

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1. The phenology of Neophilaenus lineatus (Homoptera: Cercopidae) was studied along altitudinal and latitudinal transects in the UK. The response of the life cycle to these existing temperature gradients has been used to predict the likely effects of future climatic warming. 2. The date of spring egg hatch varied by a maximum of 4 weeks across the altitudinal gradient (440 m) and by 2 weeks in different years of the study. Autumn and winter temperatures do not determine hatching date because the eggs are in diapause during this period. It is only when the eggs terminate diapause in early spring that temperature differences between years and altitudes (or as a result of climatic warming) start to affect the date of egg hatch. 3. The delayed egg hatching with increasing altitude meant that the start of nymphal development was later at higher altitudes. The development rate of nymphs at higher altitudes was not significantly different from that at lower altitudes because the altitudinal lag in temperature was partially compensated for by the more advanced state of the season. Annual differences in spring and summer temperatures resulted in variations in nymphal development rate between years, with a 1 °C temperature rise shortening nymphal development by 3·5 days. 4. The appearance of adults was delayed by 5·6 days for every 100 m increase in altitude, largely as a consequence of the later egg hatch at higher altitudes. The later appearance of the adults at higher altitudes and in colder years, reduces the length of the potential oviposition period as females are killed by autumn frosts. Climatic warming would expand the length of the oviposition period and thus increase the upper altitude limits of N. lineatus. 5. A 4·5 ° latitude difference within the UK appeared to have little effect on the timing of development in N. lineatus, possibly as a result of a geographical cline in temperature or photoperiod response. 6. Annual insects, such as N. lineatus, are likely to show a relatively small geographical displacement as a consequence of climatic warming. This is because of the temperature mitigating responses of diapause and the relative stability of the length of the development period over wide altitudinal and latitudinal ranges.

Pitfalls and soil heat extraction were used to sample Carabidae in recently felled (1 –4 yr from felling), young (5–22 yr after planting), and old plantations (42–63 yr after planting) of Picea sitchensis in northern England Pitfall catches were useful in recording swift‐running species, present at low densities, and a DCA ordination based on the pitfall catches indicated major distribution changes during the plantation cycle Soil extractions allowed estimation of minimum densities of the abundant species and indicated that both diversity and density were highest m young plantations and lowest in the old plantations The flightless Trechus obtusus (3 8 mm) was the most abundant species m the soil samples and its population density did not differ significantly between the three stages in the forestry cycle The winged, highly surface‐active species that were early colonisers of clear felled sites and formed a high proportion of the pitfall catch were present at low densities only The peak in carabid density and diversity coincided with the stage at which the ground flora was most diverse (in both species and structure) and the densities of other soil surface macro‐invertebrates were highest The high carabid density in the young plantations coincided with a the presence of a relatively high proportion of larger carabids (> 59 mm) and it is suggested that the increased carabid biomass m‐2could reflect increased prey availability The density of winged individuals was higher in the soil samples of carabids from the young plantations than from the clear felled areas and this is attributed to a build up over time of colonising species, adapted to exploiting the short‐lived open habitat stage Species that overwinter m the adult stage were more abundant in the young than in the old plantations and it is suggested that these species are favoured by the relatively high summer daytime temperatures of the open habitat The interpretation of the successional sequence in the Carabidae was enhanced by the use of heat extraction sampling in conjunction with pitfall catches