Costs and benefits of thermal acclimation for codling moth,Cydia pomonella(Lepidoptera: Tortricidae): implications for pest control and the sterile insect release programme

Abstract

Sterile insect release (SIR) is used to suppress insect pest populations in agro-ecosystems, but its success hinges on the performance of the released insects and prevailing environmental conditions. For example, low temperatures dramatically reduce SIR efficacy in cooler conditions. Here, we report on the costs and benefits of thermal acclimation for laboratory and field responses of codling moth, Cydia pomonella. Using a component of field fitness, we demonstrate that low temperature acclimated laboratory-reared moths are recaptured significantly more (∼2–4×) under cooler conditions in the wild relative to warm-acclimated or control moths. However, improvements in low temperature performance in cold-acclimated moths came at a cost to performance under warmer conditions. At high ambient temperatures, warm-acclimation improved field performance relative to control or cold-acclimated moths. Laboratory assessments of thermal activity and their limits matched the field results, indicating that these laboratory assays may be transferable to field performance. This study demonstrates clear costs and benefits of thermal acclimation on laboratory and field performance and the potential utility of thermal pretreatments for offsetting negative efficacy in SIR programmes under adverse thermal conditions. Consequently, the present work shows that evolutionary principles of phenotypic plasticity can be used to improve field performance and thus possibly enhance pest control programmes seeking increased efficacy.

Proteomic data reveals a physiological basis for costs and benefits associated with thermal acclimation

“…1). These results are in accordance with other studies showing marked benefits and costs across tolerances with thermal acclimation (Chidawanyika and Terblanche, 2011;Chown and Terblanche, 2006;Kristensen et al, 2008;Loeschcke and Hoffmann, 2007;Schou et al, 2015). Consequences of climate change include higher and more variable temperatures in many parts of the world (IPCC, 2013).…”

“…Transferring the same flies to high temperatures will result in strong costs in survival as a result of reduced heat resistance (and vice versa with flies reared at high temperatures). Distinguishing cause from effect is a challenge that we cannot solve here, but our data support the idea that metabolic rate is key to understanding the strong costs and benefits typically observed in studies on thermal acclimation (Angiletta, 2009;Chidawanyika and Terblanche, 2011;Kristensen et al, 2008;Schou et al, 2015;Schulte, 2015).…”

“…This provides a physiological explanation for the costs observed when exposing ectotherms to temperatures that are different to acclimation temperatures (Chidawanyika and Terblanche, 2011;Chown and Terblanche, 2006;Kristensen et al, 2008;Loeschcke and Hoffmann, 2007;Sørensen et al, 2013), as well as the trade-off between CT min and CT max observed in this study. More specifically, we found evidence that upregulation of proteasome proteins is an important adaptive process at stressful high temperatures, but this is at the expense of downregulation of basal metabolic functions.…”

Diamondback Moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) in Southern Africa: Research Trends, Challenges and Insights on Sustainable Management Options

“…Mass introductions may then be targeted through acclimation, to suit areas of release [26,99,100]. Indeed, previous studies have recommended that thermal acclimation can significantly improve the fitness of laboratory reared insects upon introduction to wild conditions [100][101][102][103], and this approach has even been recommended for field releases using Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) [26]. It has been documented that biological control using predators and parasitoids should aim at developing resilient agro-ecosystems which maintain species' evolutionary potential to improve efficacy.…”

Invasion and adaptation of a warm adapted species to montane localities: effect of acclimation potential

“…Hardening treatments at high temperature resulted in an increase in thermo-tolerance for eight Drosophila species (Kellett et al, 2005) and in codling moths, Cydia pomonella (Chidawanyika and Terblanche, 2011). However, until now, there has been a gap in the research of acclimation potential for heat in morphs of a species.…”