TY - JOUR
T1 - There is plenty of room at the bottom
T2 - microclimates drive insect vulnerability to climate change
AU - Pincebourde, Sylvain
AU - Woods, H. Arthur
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - Climate warming impacts biological systems profoundly. Climatologists deliver predictions about warming amplitude at coarse scales. Nevertheless, insects are small, and it remains unclear how much of the warming at coarse scales appears in the microclimates where they live. We propose a simple method for determining the pertinent spatial scale of insect microclimates. Recent studies have quantified the ability of forest understory to buffer thermal extremes, but these microclimates typically are characterized at spatial scales much larger than those determined by our method. Indeed, recent evidence supports the idea that insects can be thermally adapted even to fine scale microclimatic patterns, which can be highly variable. Finally, we discuss how microhabitat surfaces may buffer or magnify the amplitude of climate warming.
AB - Climate warming impacts biological systems profoundly. Climatologists deliver predictions about warming amplitude at coarse scales. Nevertheless, insects are small, and it remains unclear how much of the warming at coarse scales appears in the microclimates where they live. We propose a simple method for determining the pertinent spatial scale of insect microclimates. Recent studies have quantified the ability of forest understory to buffer thermal extremes, but these microclimates typically are characterized at spatial scales much larger than those determined by our method. Indeed, recent evidence supports the idea that insects can be thermally adapted even to fine scale microclimatic patterns, which can be highly variable. Finally, we discuss how microhabitat surfaces may buffer or magnify the amplitude of climate warming.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089144306&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cois.2020.07.001
DO - 10.1016/j.cois.2020.07.001
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32777713
AN - SCOPUS:85089144306
SN - 2214-5745
VL - 41
SP - 63
EP - 70
JO - Current Opinion in Insect Science
JF - Current Opinion in Insect Science
ER -