Collapse of Insect Gut Symbiosis under Simulated Climate Change.

ABSTRACT: Global warming impacts diverse organisms not only directly but also indirectly via other organisms with which they interact. Recently, the possibility that elevated temperatures resulting from global warming may substantially affect biodiversity through disrupting mutualistic/parasitic associations has been highlighted. Here we report an experimental demonstration that global warming can affect a pest insect via suppression of its obligate bacterial symbiont. The southern green stinkbug Nezara viridula depends on a specific gut bacterium for its normal growth and survival. When the insects were reared inside or outside a simulated warming incubator wherein temperature was controlled at 2.5°C higher than outside, the insects reared in the incubator exhibited severe fitness defects (i.e., re

SUBMITTER: Kikuchi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5050343 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature