Insects retain Oxygen isotopes, and we guess where they're from!!

Bugs In Cyberspace

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
721
It makes sense that different insect species in the same environment would have different tolerances for different environments. Some will live and some will die as the weather changes. Some individuals will be more likely to adapt within a species.

But some species are highly adapted to dry conditions already, for example, and hardly lose water at all. I don't think the findings of this study will impact them much.

Also, the plants many of these insects feed on will be much more susceptible to changing weather conditions and that's probably the critical factor in whether an insect will be able to roll with the changes.
 

Introvertebrate

Arachnoprince
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
1,199
So now we've got a scientific way of determining an invertebrate's optimal temperature and humidity requirements.
 

Bugs In Cyberspace

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
721
More than likely the science will be used for "pest" control, but even in agricultural the plants will determine how much water will be used, not the pests.

In the case of roaches, less biomass means less diversity and overall roach numbers.

Do we really need to know how life on Earth will be "impacted" by climate change? Science doesn't even have names for most of the organisms on the planet. Time and funding will not be given to this science, or to prevention of problems/impacts we are already well aware of.

Certainly the article is interesting. I found a new button on my cell phone the other day, but it isn't going to do much to save habitats.
 

Athelas

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
48
We did some work in my lab looking at thermal effects on reproductive and stress biology of terrestrial isopods (still trying to get it published) in which we compared different populations of Armadillidium vulgare and Porcellio laevis from northern and southern US regions. I came at it from the global climate change angle because these species are key macrodetritivores and thermal shifts could influence everything from the time they start/finish breeding in a season to morphology/fecundity/longevity/population density, etc. which could in turn affect ecosystem processes influenced by their niche.

The study described here sounds like it could be a useful way to quickly sample diversity within a population for tolerance. This could help us predict which populations/species will have the tolerance range to have a prayer of an evolutionary response as climates change.

Scott
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