Facultative and obligate diapause phenotypes in populations of the European spruce bark beetle Ips typographus

Effects of overwintering on the transcriptome and fitness traits in a damselfly with variable voltinism across two latitudes

Winter diapause consists of cessation of development that allows individuals to survive unfavourable conditions. Winter diapause may bear various costs and questions have been raised about the evolutionary mechanisms maintaining facultative diapause. Here, we explored to what extent a facultative winter diapause affects life-history traits and the transcriptome in the damselfly Ischnura elegans, and whether these effects were latitude-specific. We collected adult females at central and high latitudes and raised their larvae in growth chambers. Larvae were split into a non-diapausing and post-winter (diapausing) cohort, were phenotyped and collected for a gene expression analysis. At the phenotypic level, we found no difference in survival between the two cohorts, and the post-winter cohort was larger and heavier than the non-winter cohort. These effects were mostly independent of the latitude of origin. At the transcriptomic level, wintering affected gene expression with a small fraction of genes significantly overlapping across latitudes, especially those related to morphogenesis. In conclusion, we found clear effects of diapause on the phenotype but little evidence for latitudinal-specific effects of diapause. Our results showed a shared transcriptomic basis underpinning diapause demonstrated, here, at the intraspecific level and supported the idea of evolutionary convergence of the response to diapause across organisms.

Seasonality of forest insects: why diapause matters

Insects have major impacts on forest ecosystems, from herbivory and soil-nutrient cycling to killing trees at a large scale. Forest insects from temperate, tropical, and subtropical regions have evolved strategies to respond to seasonality; for example, by entering diapause, to mitigate adversity and to synchronize lifecycles with favorable periods. Here, we show that distinct functional groups of forest insects; that is, canopy dwellers, trunk-associated species, and soil/litter-inhabiting insects, express a variety of diapause strategies, but do not show systematic differences in diapause strategy depending on functional group. Due to the overall similarities in diapause strategies, we can better estimate the impacts of anthropogenic change on forest insect populations and, consequently, on key ecosystems.

Addressing a century-old hypothesis - do pioneer beetles of Ips typographus use volatile cues to find suitable host trees?

Global warming and more frequent climate extremes have caused bark beetle outbreaks of unprecedented scale of these insects in many conifer forests world-wide. Conifers that have been weakened by drought and heat or damaged by storms are highly susceptible to bark beetle infestation. A large proportion of trees with impaired defences provides good conditions for beetle population build-up of beetles, but mechanisms driving host search of pioneer beetles are still uncertain in several species, including the Eurasian spruce bark beetle Ips typographus. Despite a two-century-long history of bark beetle research, we still lack a sufficient understanding of interactions between I. typographus and its host Norway spruce (Picea abies) to forecast future disturbance regimes and forest dynamics. Depending on the scale (habitat or patch) and beetle population state (endemic or epidemic), host selection is likely driven by a combination of pre and postlanding cues, including visual selection or olfactory detection (kairomones). Here, we discuss primary attraction mechanisms and how volatile emission profiles of Norway spruce may provide cues on tree vitality and suitability for attacks by I. typographus, in particular during the endemic phase. We identify several crucial knowledge gaps and provide a research agenda addressing the experimental challenges of such investigations.

Evolutionary ecology of the bark beetles Ips typographus and Pityogenes chalcographus

Ips typographus (L.) and Pityogenes chalcographus (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are two common bark beetle species on Norway spruce in Eurasia. Multiple biotic and abiotic factors affect the life cycles of these two beetles, shaping their ecology and evolution. In this article, we provide a comprehensive and comparative summary of selected life-history traits. We highlight similarities and differences in biotic factors, like host range, interspecific competition, host colonization, reproductive behaviour and fungal symbioses. Moreover, we focus on the species' responses to abiotic factors and compare their temperature-dependent development and flight behaviour, cold adaptations and diapause strategies. Differences in biotic and abiotic traits might be the result of recent, species-specific evolutionary histories, particularly during the Pleistocene, with differences in glacial survival and postglacial recolonization. Finally, we discuss future research directions to understand ecological and evolutionary pathways of the two bark beetle species, for both basic research and applied forest management.

Diapause in Univoltine and Semivoltine Life Cycles

Although it is generally more adaptive for insects to produce additional generations than to have longer life cycles, some insects produce one or fewer generations per year (univoltine or semivoltine life cycles, respectively). Some insects with the potential to produce multiple generations per year produce a univoltine life cycle in response to environmental conditions. Obligatory univoltine insects have a single long diapause or multiple diapauses in different seasons. Semivoltine insects have multiple diapauses in different years, a prolonged diapause for more than a year, or diapause controlled by a circannual rhythm. Diapause in these insects greatly varies among species both in the physiological mechanism and in the evolutionary background, and there is no general rule defining it. In this review, we survey the physiological control of univoltine and semivoltine insects' diapause and discuss the adaptive significance of the long life cycles. Although constraints such as slow development are sometimes responsible for these life cycles, the benefits of these life cycles can be explained by bet-hedging in many cases. We also discuss the effect of climate warming on these life cycles as a future area of research.