Strong negative effects of simulated heat waves in a tropical butterfly

Fischer, Klaus; Klockmann, Michael; Reim, Elisabeth

doi:10.1242/jeb.106245

Cited by 51 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The +5°C heat pulse, however, had a positive effect on parasitoids as they developed into larger adults that reached adulthood faster. This supports previous work that suggests that extremely high temperatures usually have a negative effect on insects [21, 40, 41], whereas moderate fluctuations may have a neutral or a beneficial effect on them [40, 42]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Contrasting effects of heat pulses on different trophic levels, an experiment with a herbivore-parasitoid model system

et al. 2017

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Under predicted global climate change, species will be gradually exposed to warmer temperatures, and to a more variable climate including more intense and more frequent heatwaves. Increased climatic variability is expected to have different effects on species and ecosystems than gradual warming. A key challenge to predict the impact of climate change is to understand how temperature changes will affect species interactions. Herbivorous insects and their natural enemies belong to some of the largest groups of terrestrial animals, and thus they have a great impact on the functioning of ecosystems and on the services these ecosystems provide. Here we studied the life history traits of the plant-feeding insect Plutella xylostella and its specialist endoparasitoid Diadegma semiclausum, when exposed to a daily heat pulse of 5 or 10°C temperature increase during their entire immature phase. Growth and developmental responses differed with the amplitude of the heat pulse and they were different between host and parasitoid, indicating different thermal sensitivity of the two trophic levels. With a +5°C heat pulse, the adult parasitoids were larger which may result in a higher fitness, whereas a +10°C heat pulse retarded parasitoid development. These results show that the parasitoid is more sensitive than its host to brief intervals of temperature change, and this results in either positive or negative effects on life history traits, depending on the amplitude of the heat pulse. These findings suggest that more extreme fluctuations may disrupt host-parasitoid synchrony, whereas moderate fluctuations may improve parasitoid fitness.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Contrasting effects of heat pulses on different trophic levels, an experiment with a herbivore-parasitoid model system

et al. 2017

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“…The species inhabits a highly seasonal environment with alternating wet-warm and dry-cool seasons, such that it relies heavily on phenotypic plasticity to master associated challenges [42,43]. Temperature variation induces, for instance, plastic responses in wing coloration, growth and development, reproduction, and survival [14,16,44–47]. Reproduction is confined to the favorable wet season during which oviposition plants are abundantly available [48,49].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, upper critical thermal limits have recently received substantial attention [9–11]. Here, tropical ectotherms may be particularly sensitive, as they live already close to their upper thermal limits [8,12–14]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carried over: Heat stress in the egg stage reduces subsequent performance in a butterfly

2017

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Increasing heat stress caused by anthropogenic climate change may pose a substantial challenge to biodiversity due to associated detrimental effects on survival and reproduction. Therefore, heat tolerance has recently received substantial attention, but its variation throughout ontogeny and effects carried over from one developmental stage to another remained largely neglected. To explore to what extent stress experienced early in life affects later life stages, we here investigate effects of heat stress experienced in the egg stage throughout ontogeny in the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana. We found that detrimental effects of heat stress in the egg stage were detectable in hatchlings, larvae and even resulting adults, as evidenced by decreased survival, growth, and body mass. This study shows that even in holometabalous insects with discrete life stages effects of stress experienced early in life are carried over to later stages, substantially reducing subsequent fitness. We argue that such effects need to be considered when trying to forecast species responses to climate change.

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“…We then measured ADH activity and the oxidative status of butterflies by following protocols described in Fischer et al (2014) and Beaulieu et al (2015). Briefly, the frozen body (thorax and abdomen) of each butterfly was crushed in 200 μl of phosphatebuffered saline (100 mmol l −1 , pH 7.4) with one tungsten carbide bead (3 mm) at high speed shaking (30 times s −1 , 1 min).…”

Section: Fitness and Physiological Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding on ripening and over-ripening fruit: interactions between sugar, ethanol and polyphenol contents in a tropical butterfly

Beaulieu

Franke

Fischer

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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In ripe fruit, energy mostly derives from sugar, while in over-ripe fruit, it also comes from ethanol. Such ripeness differences may alter the fitness benefits associated with frugivory if animals are unable to degrade ethanol when consuming over-ripe fruit. In the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana, we found that females consuming isocaloric solutions mimicking ripe (20% sucrose) and over-ripe fruit (10% sucrose, 7% ethanol) of the palm Astrocaryum standleyanum exhibited higher fecundity than females consuming a solution mimicking unripe fruit (10% sucrose). Moreover, relative to butterflies consuming a solution mimicking unripe fruit, survival was enhanced when butterflies consumed a solution mimicking either ripe fruit supplemented with polyphenols (fruit antioxidant compounds) or over-ripe fruit devoid of polyphenols. This suggests that (1) butterflies have evolved tolerance mechanisms to derive the same reproductive benefits from ethanol and sugar, and (2) polyphenols may regulate the allocation of sugar and ethanol to maintenance mechanisms. However, variation in fitness owing to the composition of feeding solutions was not paralleled by corresponding physiological changes (alcohol dehydrogenase activity, oxidative status) in butterflies. The fitness proxies and physiological parameters that we measured therefore appear to reflect distinct biological pathways. Overall, our results highlight that the energy content of fruit primarily affects the fecundity of B. anynana butterflies, while the effects of fruit consumption on survival are more complex and vary depending on ripening stage and polyphenol presence. The actual underlying physiological mechanisms linking fruit ripeness and fitness components remain to be clarified.

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Strong negative effects of simulated heat waves in a tropical butterfly

Cited by 51 publications

References 48 publications

Contrasting effects of heat pulses on different trophic levels, an experiment with a herbivore-parasitoid model system

Contrasting effects of heat pulses on different trophic levels, an experiment with a herbivore-parasitoid model system

Carried over: Heat stress in the egg stage reduces subsequent performance in a butterfly

Feeding on ripening and over-ripening fruit: interactions between sugar, ethanol and polyphenol contents in a tropical butterfly

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