The impact of elevated aestivation temperatures on the behaviour of bogong moths (Agrotis infusa).

Autor: Lownds RM; School of Science, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia; School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, The Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK; School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AH, UK., Turbill C; School of Science, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia; Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia., White TE; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia., Umbers KD; School of Science, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia; Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia. Electronic address: K.Umbers@westernsydney.edu.au.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of thermal biology [J Therm Biol] 2023 Apr; Vol. 113, pp. 103538. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Mar 10.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2023.103538
Abstrakt: Bogong moths are an iconic Australian insect. They migrate annually in spring from low elevation locations in southern Australia to the Australian Alps where they aestivate during summer. As summer ends they make their return journey to the breeding grounds where they mate, lay eggs, and die. Given the moth's extreme behaviour in seeking out cool alpine habitat and with the knowledge that average temperatures at their aestivation sites are rising because of climate change, we first asked whether increased temperatures affect bogong moth activity during aestivation. We found that moth behaviour patterns changed from showing peaks at dawn and dusk with supressed activity during the day at cooler temperatures to near-constant activity at all times of day at 15 °C. Second, we asked whether moth mass changes after aestivating at different temperatures for a week due to dehydration or consumption of body energy reserves. We found that moth wet mass loss increased with increasing temperature, but found no difference in dry mass among temperature treatments. Overall, our results suggest that bogong moth aestivation behaviour changes with temperature and that it may be lost at around 15 °C. The impact of warming on the likelihood of individuals to complete their aestivation in the field should be investigated as a matter of priority to better understand the impact of climate change on the Australian alpine ecosystem.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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