Upper thermal limits differ among and within component species in a tritrophic host-parasitoid-hyperparasitoid system.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how climate change affects host-parasite systems and predicting the consequences for ecosystems, economies, and human health has emerged as an important task for science and society. Some basic insight into this complex problem can be gained by comparing the thermal physiology of interacting host and parasite species. In this study, we compared upper thermal tolerance among three component species in a natural host-parasitoid-hyperparasitoid system from Virginia, USA. To assess the ecological relevance of our results, we also examined a record of maximum daily air temperatures collected near the study site in the last 124 years. We found that the caterpillar host Manduca sexta had a critical thermal maximum (CTmax) about 4°C higher than the parasitic wasp, Cotesia congregata,

SUBMITTER: Agosta SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5997305 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature