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Warmer nights offer no respite for a defensive mutualism
Clesson H V Higashi1, Brandon T Barton2, Kerry M Oliver1
1Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
The Journal of Animal Ecology
|April 24, 2020
Summary
Climate warming threatens insect symbioses. A 2.5°C rise disabled pea aphid defenses against wasps, showing warming disrupts microbe-mediated mutualisms regardless of day or night temperature increases.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Climate Change Biology
- Symbiosis Research
Background:
- Ecologically vital symbioses in terrestrial arthropods are increasingly vulnerable to climate warming.
- Warming is asynchronous: night-time temperatures rise faster than daytime temperatures, potentially impacting ectotherms differently.
- The differential effects of daytime versus night-time warming on animal interactions remain understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the timing of warming (daytime vs. night-time vs. uniform) affects a defensive mutualism in pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) mediated by the symbiont Hamiltonella defensa.
- To assess the impact of a 2.5°C warming scenario on aphid fitness and their interaction with the parasitic wasp Aphidius ervi.
Main Methods:
- Created three aphid sublines: one with highly protective H. defensa, one with moderately protective H. defensa, and one without symbionts.
- Exposed these aphid lines to three warming scenarios (night-time, daytime, uniform) with a 2.5°C increase, alongside control conditions.
- Evaluated aphid fitness in the presence and absence of parasitoids under different warming treatments.
Main Results:
- A 2.5°C increase in temperature was sufficient to disrupt the aphid defensive mutualism, irrespective of whether warming occurred during the day or night.
- Warming negatively impacted symbiont-mediated host-parasitoid interactions more than symbiont-free interactions.
- The negative effects of warming were more pronounced on the species interaction (host-parasitoid) than on individual participants, affecting aphids more than parasitoids.
Conclusions:
- A modest 2.5°C warming, regardless of its timing, significantly impairs a common microbe-mediated defensive mutualism in pea aphids.
- These findings suggest that predicted near-term temperature increases could disrupt numerous ecological symbioses in terrestrial ecosystems.
- The study highlights the vulnerability of specialized arthropod-symbiont interactions to climate change.
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