Planned intervention: On Wednesday April 3rd 05:30 UTC Zenodo will be unavailable for up to 2-10 minutes to perform a storage cluster upgrade.
Published March 8, 2021 | Version v1
Dataset Open

Responses of terrestrial polar arthropods to high and increasing temperatures

Description

Terrestrial arthropods in the Arctic and Antarctic are exposed to extreme and variable temperatures, and climate change is predicted to be especially pronounced in these regions. Available studies on insect ecophysiology typically focus on the ability of species to tolerate the extreme low temperatures that can occur in these regions, whereas studies investigating species' plasticity and the importance of evolutionary adaptation to periodically high and increasing temperatures are limited. Here, we provide an overview of current knowledge on thermal adaptation to high temperatures of terrestrial arthropods in Arctic and Antarctic regions. Firstly, we summarize the literature on heat tolerance for terrestrial arthropods in these regions, and discuss variation in heat tolerance across species, habitats and polar regions. Secondly, we discuss the potential for species to cope with increasing and more variable temperatures through thermal plasticity and evolutionary adaptation. Thirdly, we summarize our current knowledge of the underlying physiological adjustments to heat stress in arthropods from these regions. It is clear that very little data are available on the heat tolerance of arthropods in polar regions, but that large variation in arthropod thermal tolerance exists across polar regions, habitats and species. Further, the species investigated show unique physiological adjustments to heat stress in, for example, being able to respond quickly to increasing or extreme temperatures. To understand the consequences of climate change on terrestrial arthropods in polar regions, we suggest that more studies on the ability of species to cope with stressful high and variable temperatures are needed.

Notes

Funding provided by: Carlsbergfondet
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002808
Award Number: CF17-0415

Funding provided by: Natur og Univers, Detict Frie Forskningsråd
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100008394
Award Number: DFF-8021-00014B

Files

Bahrndorff_et_al_2021_Journal_of_Experimental_Biology.csv

Files (25.5 kB)