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Revealing the importance of seasonal environmental variations in shaping insect life history traits and strategies in a climate-change context (SEASONACLIM)
Revealing the importance of seasonal environmental variations in shaping insect life history traits and strategies in a climate-change context (SEASONACLIM)
2019-2022
In this project, we address topical issues in the field of insect seasonal ecology and in the context of climate change by bridging field, laboratory and modeling studies. While overwintering strategies and succession of morphs throughout the life-cycle are quite well understood, the extent to which morphological, physiological and behavioural traits vary across the year and are subject to environmental filtering remains a neglected aspect of insect seasonal ecology. We question if insect traits are shaped by adaptive phenotypic plasticity or are the result of environmental constraints due to seasonal environmental changes. To answer these questions, we will focus on parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and their aphid hosts due to their economic importance in agroecosystems. Insects will be sampled across the year and a set of life-history traits will be measured in the laboratory. Diapause expression will be compared among parasitoid populations from a climatic gradient. The importance of endosymbiotic bacteria and of their seasonal dynamics will also be considered as potential factors affecting parasitoid and aphid traits. By drawing from prospects at the seasonal scale and by using modeling approaches, we will be able to better predict how our target species are likely to respond to long-term environmental modifications driven by climate change. We expect to identify the key biotic and abiotic factors acting as environmental filtering on insect traits over the year and affecting their fitness. This should lead to better predicting how traits and seasonal strategies are likely to evolve in the context of climate-change and may modify the provision of ecosystem services such as biological pest control in Europe.
This project is funded by the F.R.S.-FNRS, and is conducted at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) in the Ecology of interactions and biological control lab (Prof. Thierry Hance, UCLouvain)
The effects of anthropogenic disturbances on insect resting behaviour and species interactions
The effects of anthropogenic disturbances on insect resting behaviour and species interactions
2018-2019
Human-driven global change impacts a wide variety of organisms, leading to important behavioural, developmental, physiological alterations in addition to modifications in geographic range and seasonal phenology. Nevertheless, the influence of environmental disturbances on circadian rhythms – and in particular on periods of behavioural inactivity (e.g. sleep) – remains largely unexplored and underappreciated. We wish to advance our knowledge on periods of inactivity in insects, which still remain poorly studied, and to make a link between inactivity and different ecological and cognitive processes. Based upon previous studies on model insects such as Drosophila fruit flies, we propose to study sleep behavioural syndromes in parasitoid wasps and pollinators which are key species in many ecosystems and are present in the majority of terrestrial natural settings. To do so, we will combine field and laboratory approaches and we will use both hymenopterous parasitoids and honey bees as model organisms. This project will allow a better understanding of sleep expression in insects at the behavioural and physiological levels, the identification of environmental factors that could cause sleep disruption, as well as evaluating the consequences of sleep-deprivation on insect behaviour, circadian rhythms and survival. We will focus on a set of behaviour and life-history traits specific to bees and parasitoids to explore their interaction with other species of their food web (i.e., hosts, competitors), and the consequences of sleep-disruption on population dynamics and community function. Ultimately, this project will serve at better predicting behavioural time budgets in insects by including resting times and their ecological and evolutionary importance. This information will contribute to improved evaluation of insects’ capacity to ensure efficient ecosystem services such as biological pest control and pollination in the context of ongoing global change.
This project was funded by the Fondation Fyssen, and was conducted at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse (WI, USA).
(probably) Sleeping Melecta luctuosa
Mathias Krumbholz CC BY-SAOther projects in which I was involved
Other projects in which I was involved
Woodnet (biodivERsA)
Aphiweb (ANR)
Proverbio (Interreg)
Climland (FP7-MSCA)
LifeWebs
HerbVar
EcoStack
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