Climate change and its effects on terrestrial insects and herbivory patterns

Abstract

Climate change and extreme weather events affect plants and animals and the direct impact of anthropogenic climate change has been documented extensively over the past years. In this review, I address the main consequences of elevated CO 2 and O 3 concentrations, elevated temperature and changes in rainfall patterns on the interactions between insects and their host plants. Because of their tight relationship with host plants, insect herbivores are expected to suffer direct and indirect effects of climate change through the changes experienced by their host plants, with consequences to population dynamics, community structure and ecosystem functioning. Introducti onClimate change and extreme weather events affect plants and animals and the direct impact of anthropogenic climate change has been documented on every continent, in every ocean, and in most major taxonomic groups (Parmesan 2006 and references therein). As a consequence of recent human activities and its effects on global climate, plants will face new environmental conditions in the near future, such as elevated CO 2 and O 3 concentrations, elevated temperature and UV radiation, and changes in rainfall patterns over the seasons. Insects represent almost half of the biodiversity so far described (Speight et al 1999) and are central pieces on ecosystem structure and function (Crawley 1983). Because of their tight relationship with host plants, insect herbivores are expected to suffer direct and indirect effects of climate change through the changes experienced by their host plants.Global climatic changes are expected to impact insect-plant interactions in several ways. They might affect insects directly, through changes in physiology, behavior and life history parameters, as well as indirectly, through changes experienced by host plants in their morphology (Barnes et al 1988 (Gifford et al 1996, Yadugiri 2010) and patterns of richness, diversity and abundance (Thuiller et al 2005, Kazakis et al 2007. Insects play important roles in ecosystem services, acting as herbivores, pollinators, predators and parasitoids, and changes in their abundance and diversity have the potential to alter the services they provide (Hillstrom & Lindroth 2008). The number of studies reporting climate change effects on insects has rapidly increased during the past 20 years. A keyword search for "climate change" and "insects" in the Science Citation Index Expanded (1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) resulted in almost 500 references, with a sharp increase over the past ive years (277 studies from 2006 to 2010, compared with 102 references from 2001 to 2005). As a result, a great body of literature has accumulated and several other authors reviewed the topic, both qualitatively (e.g., Watt et al 1995, Lindroth 1996, Bezemer & Jones 1998, Parmesan 2006, Tylianakis et al 2008 and quantitatively, using meta-analytical techniques (e.g., Zvereva & Kozlov 2006, Stiling & Cornelissen 2007, Wu et...

Climate Change: Resetting Plant-Insect Interactions

“…An unambiguous indicator that elevated CO 2 reduces insect growth rates by altering the chemical and physical properties of foliage is that insects consume more high-CO 2 foliage, an average of 14% more, to maintain lower growth rates. Increased consumption of low-quality food to meet critical nutrient limitations is referred to as "compensatory feeding" and may portend greater herbivore damage to both managed and natural ecosystems as CO 2 continues to increase (Cornelissen, 2011).…”

Co2 Effects on Larval Development and Genetics of Mealworm Beetle, Tenebrio Molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in Two Different Co2 Systems

“…Insect herbivore which consumed plant lowered nutritional quality as food will cause a reduction in their performance, including by reducing their growth rates and prolonging their development time (Goverde and Erhardt, 2003). Indirectly, the mortality imposed by natural enemies increase (Stiling et al, 2003), finally reducing the abundance, diversity, and richness of herbivore if compared to ambient CO 2 environments (Cornelissen, 2011).…”

Oviposition Substrate of the Mountain Fly Drosophila nigrosparsa (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

“…Species are affected directly, by physiological changes, and indirectly, by effects on interacting species [17]. Distribution ranges and synchrony of interacting partners can become mismatched so that the overlapping area and period are reduced, respectively [18,19].…”

“…Models predict increasing mismatches, spatially and temporally [20], which can result in the extinction of interacting species [21]. Insect species with narrow substrate preferences for egg laying are especially vulnerable [17]. Hence, knowledge of the preferred oviposition substrate is a crucial factor when predicting a species’ future under changed environmental conditions such as under climate warming.…”