Multi‐factor climate change effects on insect herbivore performance

Ecology and Evolution

Christoph Scherber⁴  David J. Gladbach⁴  Karen Stevnbak⁵  Rune Juelsborg Karsten¹  Inger Kappel Schmidt²  Anders Michelsen⁵  Kristian Rost Albert³  Klaus Steenberg Larsen³  Teis Nørgaard Mikkelsen³  Claus Beier³ 

[1] Forest and Landscape, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark;Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark;Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark;Agroecology, Department of Crop Science, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany;Terrestrial Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, København Ø, Denmark

关键词: Chrysomelidae;    climaite;    condensed tannins;    FACE experiment;    multiple climate change drivers;    multitrophic interactions;    plant secondary metabolites;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.564

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

The impact of climate change on herbivorous insects can have far-reaching consequences for ecosystem processes. However, experiments investigating the combined effects of multiple climate change drivers on herbivorous insects are scarce. We independently manipulated three climate change drivers (CO₂, warming, drought) in a Danish heathland ecosystem. The experiment was established in 2005 as a full factorial split-plot with 6 blocks × 2 levels of CO₂ × 2 levels of warming × 2 levels of drought = 48 plots. In 2008, we exposed 432 larvae (n = 9 per plot) of the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis Thomson), an important herbivore on heather, to ambient versus elevated drought, temperature, and CO₂ (plus all combinations) for 5 weeks. Larval weight and survival were highest under ambient conditions and decreased significantly with the number of climate change drivers. Weight was lowest under the drought treatment, and there was a three-way interaction between time, CO₂, and drought. Survival was lowest when drought, warming, and elevated CO₂ were combined. Effects of climate change drivers depended on other co-acting factors and were mediated by changes in plant secondary compounds, nitrogen, and water content. Overall, drought was the most important factor for this insect herbivore. Our study shows that weight and survival of insect herbivores may decline under future climate. The complexity of insect herbivore responses increases with the number of combined climate change drivers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.