Populations of insects can differ in how sensitive their development, growth, and performance are to environmental conditions such as temperature and daylength. The environmental sensitivity of development can alter phenology (seasonal timing) and ecology. Warming accelerates development of most populations. However, high-elevation and season-limited populations can exhibit developmental plasticity to either advance or prolong development depending on conditions. We examine how diurnal temperature variation and daylength interact to shape growth, development, and performance of several populations of the montane grasshopper, Melanoplus boulderensis , along an elevation gradient. We then compare these experimental results to observed patterns of development in the field. Although populations exhibited similar thermal sensitivities of development under long-day conditions, development of high-elevation populations was more sensitive to temperature under short-day conditions. This developmental plasticity resulted in rapid development of high elevation populations in short-day conditions with high temperature variability, consistent with their observed capacity for rapid development in the field when conditions are permissive early in the season. Notably, accelerated development generally did not decrease body size or alter body shape. Developmental conditions did not strongly influence thermal tolerance but altered the temperature dependence of performance in difficult-to-predict ways. In sum, the high-elevation and season-limited populations exhibited developmental plasticity that enables advancing or prolonging development consistent with field phenology. Our results suggest these patterns are driven by the thermal sensitivity of development increasing when days are short early in the season compared to when days are long later in the season. Developmental plasticity will shape phenological responses to climate change with potential implications for community and ecosystem structure.
more »
« less
Declines in low-elevation subalpine tree populations outpace growth in high-elevation populations with warming
- Award ID(s):
- 1637686
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10033590
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Ecology
- Volume:
- 105
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0022-0477
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1347 to 1357
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The movement of salt marshes into uplands and marsh submergence as sea level rises is well documented; however, predicting how coastal marshes will respond to rising sea levels is constrained by a lack of process-based understanding of how various marsh zones adjust to changes in sea level. To assess the way in which salt-marsh zones differ in their elevation response to sea-level change, and to evaluate how potential hydrologic drivers influence the response, surface elevation tables, marker horizons, and shallow rod surface elevation tables were installed in a Virginia salt marsh in three zones that differed in elevation and vegetation type. Decadal rates of elevation change, surface accretion, and shallow subsidence or expansion were examined in the context of hydrologic drivers that included local sea-level rise, flooding frequency, hurricane storm-surge, and precipitation. Surface elevation increases were fastest in the low-elevation zone, intermediate in the middle-elevation zone, and slowest in the high-elevation zone. These rates are similar to (low- and middle-marsh) or less than (high-marsh) local rates of sea-level rise. Root-zone expansion, presumably due to root growth and organic matter accumulation, varied among the three salt marsh zones and accounted for 37%, but probably more, of the increase in marsh surface elevation. We infer that, during marsh transgression, soil-forming processes shift from biogenic (high marsh) to minerogenic (low marsh) in response, either directly or indirectly, to changing hydrologic drivers.more » « less
