Diurnal Temperature Variations Affect Development of a Herbivorous Arthropod Pest and its Predators

Abstract

The impact of daily temperature variations on arthropod life history remains woefully understudied compared to the large body of research that has been carried out on the effects of constant temperatures. However, diurnal varying temperature regimes more commonly represent the environment in which most organisms thrive. Such varying temperature regimes have been demonstrated to substantially affect development and reproduction of ectothermic organisms, generally in accordance with Jensen’s inequality. In the present study we evaluated the impact of temperature alternations at 4 amplitudes (DTR0, +5, +10 and +15°C) on the developmental rate of the predatory mites Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot and Neoseiulus californicus McGregor (Acari: Phytoseiidae) and their natural prey, the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae). We have modelled their developmental rates as a function of temperature using both linear and nonlinear models. Diurnally alternating temperatures resulted in a faster development in the lower temperature range as compared to their corresponding mean constant temperatures, whereas the opposite was observed in the higher temperature range. Our results indicate that Jensen’s inequality does not suffice to fully explain the differences in developmental rates at constant and alternating temperatures, suggesting additional physiological responses play a role. It is concluded that diurnal temperature range should not be ignored and should be incorporated in predictive models on the phenology of arthropod pests and their natural enemies and their performance in biological control programmes.

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“…Further, diurnal temperature variations have been shown to affect insect ecology and behavior (Vangansbeke et al. , Speights et al. ).…”

“…Speights et al (2017) pointed out that only few studies explicitly addressed the effects of night time warming and decreased daily temperature variation, but this might have potentially important consequences for plant growth (Dhakhwa andCampbell 1998, Cheesman andWinter 2013) and phenology (Rossi and Isabel 2017) as well as implications for the productivity of crop plants (Garc ıa et al 2015). Further, diurnal temperature variations have been shown to affect insect ecology and behavior (Vangansbeke et al 2015, Speights et al 2017. This might also have practical implications for pest control since in contrast to the often predicted increased probability of pest outbreaks with higher daily mean temperatures in the future (Taylor et al 2018), pest species might be detrimentally affected by night time warming (Zhao et al 2014).…”

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“…Presence data for each species separately were used for the parameter fitting procedure with a special focus in Europe, Middle East and N. Africa. Starting parameter values for temperature and moisture limits, diapause (only for the two-spotted spider mite), as well as irrigation amounts were used from literature sources (Kroon et al 1998, Vangansbeke et al 2015, FAO 2017 and then adjusted iteratively until a close match was observed between the projected climate suitability patterns and the observed abundance patterns (Sutherst et al 2007). Sensitivity analysis was carried out to quantify the effect of parameters on model predictions for the three species (da Silva et al 2018).…”

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“…Diurnal fluctuations in temperature also affect the development of many insects (Vangansbeke et al, 2015). In addition to being hotter, temperature fluctuations in small pools are greater than those in larger, shaded, bodies of water.…”