title: Impact of hot events at different developmental stages of a moth: the closer to adult stage, the less reproductive output.
abstract: Hot days in summer (involving a few hours at particularly high temperatures) are expected to become more common under climate change. How such events at different life stages affect survival and reproduction remains unclear in most organisms. Here, we investigated how an exposure to 40 °C at different life stages in the global insect pest, Plutella xylostella, affects immediate survival, subsequent survival and reproductive output. First-instar larvae showed the lowest survival under heat stress, whereas 3rd-instar larvae were relatively heat resistant. Heat exposure at the 1(st)-instar or egg stage did not influence subsequent maturation success, while exposure at the 3rd-instar larval stage did have an effect. We found that heat stress at developmental stages closer to adult stage caused greater detrimental effects on reproduction than heat stress experienced at earlier life stages. The effects of hot events on insect populations can therefore depend critically on the timing of the event relative to an organism's life-cycle.
authors.affiliation: Climate Change Biology Research Group, State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Hubei Province Key Laboratory for Crop Diseases, Insect Pests and Weeds Control, Institute of Plant Protection &Soil Science, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Qian
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group, School of BioSciences, Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: AryA
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.affiliation: Hubei Province Key Laboratory for Crop Diseases, Insect Pests and Weeds Control, Institute of Plant Protection &Soil Science, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Climate Change Biology Research Group, State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Sen
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057231:Climate Change; D005260:Female; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D009036:Moths / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D010063:Ovum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013696:Temperature