Thermal biology of the alien ground beetle Merizodus soledadinus introduced to the Kerguelen Islands

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Lalouette, Lisa, Williams, C. M., Cottin, Manuelle, Sinclair, Brent J., Renault, David
• Other Authors: Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution Rennes (ECOBIO), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES), Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario (UWO), Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), NSERC; Canadian Foundation for Innovation; IPEV Programme 136; CNRS Zone Atelier Subantarctique;, ANR-07-VULN-0004,EVINCE,Vulnerability of native communities to invasive insects and climate change in sub-antarctic islands.(2007)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: Sub-Antarctic island; Insect; Critical thermal limit; Survival; Fluctuating thermal regime; Metabolic rate; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Antarctic; Kerguelen; Kerguelen Islands; Antarc*; Polar Biology
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00688852; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1096-9

International audience Thermal tolerance is one of the major determinants of successful establishment and spread of invasive aliens. Merizodus soledadinus (Coleoptera, Carabidae) was accidentally introduced to Kerguelen from the Falkland Islands in 1913. On Kerguelen, the climate is cooler than the Falklands Islands but has been getting warmer since the 1990s, in synchrony with the rapid expansion of M. soledadinus. We aimed to investigate the thermal sensitivity in adults of M. soledadinus and hypothesised that climate warming has assisted the colonisation process of M. soledadinus. We examined (1) survival of constant low temperatures and at fluctuating thermal regimes, (2) the critical thermal limits (CTmin and CTmax) of acclimated individuals (4, 8 and 16°C), (3) the metabolic rates of acclimated adults at temperatures from 0 to 16°C. The FTRs moderately increased the duration of survival compared to constant cold exposure. M. soledadinus exhibited an activity window ranged from -5.5 ± 0.3 to 38 ± 0.5°C. The Q10 after acclimation to temperatures ranging from 0 to 16°C was 2.49. Our work shows that this species is only moderately cold tolerant with little thermal plasticity. The CTmin of M. soledadinus are close to the low temperatures experienced in winter on Kerguelen Islands, but the CTmax are well above summer conditions, suggesting that this species has abundant scope to deal with current climate change.