Contrasting effects of climate warming on hosts and parasitoids: insights from Rocky Mountain aspen leaf miners and their parasitoids

Because temperature has pervasive effects on biological rates, climate warming may alter the outcomes of interactions between insect hosts and their parasitoids, which, for many host species, constitute the single largest source of mortality. Despite growing interest in parasitoid-host responses to...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Shah, Alisha A., Hamant, Emily, Gallego Rubalcaba, Juan Vicente, Larkin, Beau, Forbes, Andrew A., Woods, H. Arthur
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/120110
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120110
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:574.34
595.7
502.3
Climate change
Development
Leaf miner
Microclimate
Upper thermal limit
Parasitoid
Ecología (Biología)
Insectos
Medio ambiente natural
2401.06 Ecología Animal
2413 Biología de Insectos (Entomología)
2502.03 Bioclimatología
Descripción
Sumario:Because temperature has pervasive effects on biological rates, climate warming may alter the outcomes of interactions between insect hosts and their parasitoids, which, for many host species, constitute the single largest source of mortality. Despite growing interest in parasitoid-host responses to climate change, there are few empirical tests of thermal tolerance differences between non-model lepidopteran hosts and their parasitoids and almost none from mountain ecosystems where warming is occurring more rapidly. We examined the thermal ecology of a host–parasitoid interaction in the Rocky Mountains using wild populations of the aspen leaf miner (Phyllocnistis populiella) and a set of previously unknown eulophid parasitoids that attack them. Host and parasitoid development rates were differentially sensitive to temperature. In addition, upper thermal limits of adult parasitoids were lower than those of host caterpillars, and in choice experiments, parasitoids reared at different temperatures showed no plasticity in preferred temperatures. However, when coupled to simulations of leaf microclimates in aspen canopies, these observations suggest, contrary to expectations, that climate warming may potentially benefit parasitoids.