title: Will climate change affect insect pheromonal communication?
abstract: Understanding how climate change will affect species interactions is a challenge for all branches of ecology. We have only limited understanding of how increasing temperature and atmospheric CO2and O3levels will affect pheromone-mediated communication among insects. Based on the existing literature, we suggest that the entire process of pheromonal communication, from production to behavioural response, is likely to be impacted by increases in temperature and modifications to atmospheric CO2and O3levels. We argue that insect species relying on long-range chemical signals will be most impacted, because these signals will likely suffer from longer exposure to oxidative gases during dispersal. We provide future directions for research programmes investigating the consequences of climate change on insect pheromonal communication.
authors.affiliation: Entomologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, 2 Passage des Déportés, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boullis
authors.affiliation: Service d'Ecologie Sociale, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Detrain
authors.affiliation: Entomologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, 2 Passage des Déportés, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.affiliation: Entomologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, 2 Passage des Déportés, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium. Electronic address: fverheggen@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: François J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Verheggen
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D010675:Pheromones / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones