Effect of temperature on the microbiota composition of a parasitoid-host association
Thermal stresses experienced during development can disrupt the stability of the microbial communities associated with insects. Although this has been shown for many insect hosts, it remains unclear whether thermal stresses similarly affect the microbiota of insects and that of their endosymbiotic parasitoids. To simultaneously characterize the effect of thermal stress on the bacterial communities associated with an insect and its endoparasitoid, we reared two generations of the butterfly Melitaea cinxia, and its specialized parasitoid wasp, Hyposoter horticola, under three different temperatures in the laboratory (26, 28, or 31 C). We investigated (1) whether the microbiota of hosts differ from that of their endoparasitoid, and (2) whether the microbiota of hosts and endoparasitoid wasps are similarly affected by thermal stresses.