Rising temperatures favour defence-suppressing herbivores.

ABSTRACT: Rising temperatures due to climate change are predicted to accelerate the life cycle of arthropod herbivores thereby exacerbating pest formation. Notorious pests like spider mites thrive in areas with high temperatures (32-35 °C), and it is predicted that the size and number of such areas will expand in the coming decades. Higher temperatures can directly accelerate population growth, but also indirectly affect them through changes in the plant's defensive mechanisms. Spider mites have been shown to adapt to plant defences, with natural selection favouring defence-suppressing traits. However, it is not known to what extent suppression is affected by rising temperatures and how this might tie into the rate of adaptation and pest damage. In this study, we investigated the effect of two tempe

SUBMITTER: Teodoro-Paulo J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11923023 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature