Relationship between the minimum and maximum temperature thresholds for development in insects

Abstract

Summary 1.The objective of this study was to test the theoretical prediction that the thermal tolerance range for development in insects should be about 20 ° C. 2. The data on the thermal requirements for development of 66 species from eight orders of insects was obtained from the literature. The temperatures at which the developmental rates are at their minimum and maximum was obtained for each population by defining the relationship between developmental rate (1/ D ) and temperature, using either Lactin et al. 's (1995) or Briére et al. 's (1999) model. 3. Thermal windows, i.e. the range in temperature between the minimum and maximum rate of development for individual species, and the relationship between the minimum and maximum temperatures, were examined. 4. The mean thermal window, 19·8 ° C with 95% confidence interval 19·1-20·5 and range 13·3 − 28·6, was influenced by species phylogeny, with the windows narrower for species having a true pupal stage, but not by ecological traits thought to affect species thermal requirements. The relationship between the minimum and maximum temperatures was highly significant and independent of species phylogeny. 5. Theory and this analysis of empirical data indicate that each species of insect can only develop over a limited range of temperatures independent of species traits. In addition, the relationship between the minimum and maximum developmental rates co-vary independent of species phylogeny. This may help identify the precise nature of the physiological mechanism underlying the seasonal development and distribution of insects, and possibly other ectotherms.

Assessing the role of canopy cover on the colonization of phytotelmata by aquatic invertebrates: an experiment with the tank-bromeliad Aechmea lingulata

“…Alternatively, the low abundance of insects, compared to non-insect invertebrates, may be related to the high water temperatures in the bromeliads. Several authors have suggested that temperature is one of the factors that most affects the reproduction, growth and survival of insects, as well as predict their distribution and abundance on small temporal and spatial scales (Chesson and Huntly, 1997;Dixon et al, 2009;Dézerald et al, 2015a). In this context, the results obtained in this study corroborate the findings of Lopez and Rios (2001) in a restinga area of the State of Rio de Janeiro.…”

Onwards and upwards – aphid flight trends follow climate change

“…In addition, they then attempted to explain some of the variability found in the observed phenological patterns by taking into account life cycle type, that is whether host-alternating (heteroecious; approximately 10% of aphids are heteroecious) or non-host-alternating (monoecious). Host-alternating aphids, as a rule, spend the summer on herbaceous plants and in autumn return to their woody host plant on which they overwinter as eggs, emerging in spring to feed and reproduce before subsequent generations migrate to their secondary herbaceous hosts (Dixon 1998). The advancing phenology of many of these woody host plants in the northern hemisphere (Badeck et al 2004) is due to the close relationship between leaf developmental stage and the production of the alate morph that migrates to the secondary host plant (Dixon 1998), almost certainly going to result in earlier commencement of the flight season in these aphids, and this is indeed what Bell et al (2015) show in this issue.…”

“…Host-alternating aphids, as a rule, spend the summer on herbaceous plants and in autumn return to their woody host plant on which they overwinter as eggs, emerging in spring to feed and reproduce before subsequent generations migrate to their secondary herbaceous hosts (Dixon 1998). The advancing phenology of many of these woody host plants in the northern hemisphere (Badeck et al 2004) is due to the close relationship between leaf developmental stage and the production of the alate morph that migrates to the secondary host plant (Dixon 1998), almost certainly going to result in earlier commencement of the flight season in these aphids, and this is indeed what Bell et al (2015) show in this issue. Bell et al (2015) found that taken as a whole, all 55 species analysed were tending to fly earlier at the start of the year and almost half of the species were making their last flights earlier.…”

“…It would be useful to know whether the host plants of those aphids with both an earlier first flight and an earlier last flight, for example Metopolphium dirhodum and Aphis sambuci, to highlight a pest and non-pest aphid, respectively, are beginning to grow earlier and also beginning to senesce earlier. As sap feeders, aphids are particularly sensitive to the soluble nitrogen levels and free amino acids present in their host plant (Holopainen, Kainulainen & Oksanen 1997;Aqueel & Leather 2011) which is correlated with the growth (phenological) stage of their host plants (Dixon 1998). They thus tend to prefer either young rapidly developing plants (Leather & Dixon 1981), the rapidly growing meristems of older plants (Watt 1979) or senescing leaves and tissues (Leather & Dixon 1981;Gould et al 2007) where soluble nitrogen levels are high (Fig.…”

“…Insects can only develop over a limited range of temperatures, their 'thermal window' (Dixon et al 2009). Aphids are particularly responsive to temperature, and the same species across a temperature gradient can be almost twice the size at the cooler end than at the warmer end of their range (Wool 1977).…”