title: Insects in fluctuating thermal environments.
abstract: All climate change scenarios predict an increase in both global temperature means and the magnitude of seasonal and diel temperature variation. The nonlinear relationship between temperature and biological processes means that fluctuating temperatures lead to physiological, life history, and ecological consequences for ectothermic insects that diverge from those predicted from constant temperatures. Fluctuating temperatures that remain within permissive temperature ranges generally improve performance. By contrast, those which extend to stressful temperatures may have either positive impacts, allowing repair of damage accrued during exposure to thermal extremes, or negative impacts from cumulative damage during successive exposures. We discuss the mechanisms underlying these differing effects. Fluctuating temperatures could be used to enhance or weaken insects in applied rearing programs, and any prediction of insect performance in the field-including models of climate change or population performance-must account for the effect of fluctuating temperatures.
authors.affiliation: UMR CNRS 6553, Université de Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France; email: herve.colinet@univ-rennes1.fr , david.renault@univ-rennes1.fr.
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Colinet
authors.forename: Brent J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vernon
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Renault
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057231:Climate Change; D004777:Environment; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Jensen's inequality; climate change; life history traits; temperature variations; thermal tolerance