Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance
ABSTRACT Insects may survive subzero temperatures by two general strategies: Freeze‐tolerant insects withstand the formation of internal ice, while freeze‐avoiding insects die upon freezing. While it is widely recognized that these represent alternative strategies to survive low temperatures, and me...
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crwiley:10.1017/s1464793102006024 2024-09-15T18:37:23+00:00 Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance SINCLAIR, BRENT J. ADDO‐BEDIAKO, A. CHOWN, STEVEN L. 2003 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1464793102006024 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1017%2FS1464793102006024 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S1464793102006024 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Biological Reviews volume 78, issue 2, page 181-195 ISSN 1464-7931 1469-185X journal-article 2003 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1017/s1464793102006024 2024-08-27T04:28:54Z ABSTRACT Insects may survive subzero temperatures by two general strategies: Freeze‐tolerant insects withstand the formation of internal ice, while freeze‐avoiding insects die upon freezing. While it is widely recognized that these represent alternative strategies to survive low temperatures, and mechanistic understanding of the physical and molecular process of cold tolerance are becoming well elucidated, the reasons why one strategy or the other is adopted remain unclear. Freeze avoidance is clearly basal within the arthropod lineages, and it seems that freeze tolerance has evolved convergently at least six times among the insects (in the Blattaria, Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera). Of the pterygote insect species whose cold‐tolerance strategy has been reported in the literature, 29% (69 of 241 species studied) of those in the Northern Hemisphere, whereas 85%(11 of 13 species) in the Southern Hemisphere exhibit freeze tolerance. A randomization test indicates that this predominance of freeze tolerance in the Southern Hemisphere is too great to be due to chance, and there is no evidence of a recent publication bias in favour of new reports of freeze‐tolerant species. We conclude from this that the specific nature of cold insect habitats in the Southern Hemisphere, which are characterized by oceanic influence and climate variability must lead to strong selection in favour of freeze tolerance in this hemisphere. We envisage two main scenarios where it would prove advantageous for insects to be freeze tolerant. In the first, characteristic of cold continental habitats of the Northern Hemisphere, freeze tolerance allows insects to survive very low temperatures for long periods of time, and to avoid desiccation. These responses tend to be strongly seasonal, and insects in these habitats are only freeze tolerant for the overwintering period. By contrast, in mild and unpredictable environments, characteristic of habitats influenced by the Southern Ocean, freeze tolerance allows insects ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean Wiley Online Library Biological Reviews 78 2 181 195 |
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English |
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ABSTRACT Insects may survive subzero temperatures by two general strategies: Freeze‐tolerant insects withstand the formation of internal ice, while freeze‐avoiding insects die upon freezing. While it is widely recognized that these represent alternative strategies to survive low temperatures, and mechanistic understanding of the physical and molecular process of cold tolerance are becoming well elucidated, the reasons why one strategy or the other is adopted remain unclear. Freeze avoidance is clearly basal within the arthropod lineages, and it seems that freeze tolerance has evolved convergently at least six times among the insects (in the Blattaria, Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera). Of the pterygote insect species whose cold‐tolerance strategy has been reported in the literature, 29% (69 of 241 species studied) of those in the Northern Hemisphere, whereas 85%(11 of 13 species) in the Southern Hemisphere exhibit freeze tolerance. A randomization test indicates that this predominance of freeze tolerance in the Southern Hemisphere is too great to be due to chance, and there is no evidence of a recent publication bias in favour of new reports of freeze‐tolerant species. We conclude from this that the specific nature of cold insect habitats in the Southern Hemisphere, which are characterized by oceanic influence and climate variability must lead to strong selection in favour of freeze tolerance in this hemisphere. We envisage two main scenarios where it would prove advantageous for insects to be freeze tolerant. In the first, characteristic of cold continental habitats of the Northern Hemisphere, freeze tolerance allows insects to survive very low temperatures for long periods of time, and to avoid desiccation. These responses tend to be strongly seasonal, and insects in these habitats are only freeze tolerant for the overwintering period. By contrast, in mild and unpredictable environments, characteristic of habitats influenced by the Southern Ocean, freeze tolerance allows insects ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
SINCLAIR, BRENT J. ADDO‐BEDIAKO, A. CHOWN, STEVEN L. |
spellingShingle |
SINCLAIR, BRENT J. ADDO‐BEDIAKO, A. CHOWN, STEVEN L. Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance |
author_facet |
SINCLAIR, BRENT J. ADDO‐BEDIAKO, A. CHOWN, STEVEN L. |
author_sort |
SINCLAIR, BRENT J. |
title |
Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance |
title_short |
Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance |
title_full |
Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance |
title_fullStr |
Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance |
title_sort |
climatic variability and the evolution of insect freeze tolerance |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1464793102006024 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1017%2FS1464793102006024 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S1464793102006024 |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Biological Reviews volume 78, issue 2, page 181-195 ISSN 1464-7931 1469-185X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s1464793102006024 |
container_title |
Biological Reviews |
container_volume |
78 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
181 |
op_container_end_page |
195 |
_version_ |
1810481755680931840 |