Effects of elevational range shift on the morphology and physiology of a carabid beetle invading the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Ouisse, Tiphaine, Day, E, Laville, L, Hendrickx, Frédéric, Convey, Peter, Renault, D
• 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), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University Belgium (UGENT), Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.), Enviromics 'Aliens', Institut National d'Ecologie et d'Evolution, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Projet IPEV 136 Subanteco, Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor, ENVIE, Institut Universitaire de France
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: envir; geo; Antarctic; Kerguelen; Kerguelen Islands; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-57868-0; https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02470912/file/s41598-020-57868-0.pdf; https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02470912

International audience Climatic changes can induce geographic expansion and altitudinal shifts in the distribution of invasive species by offering more thermally suitable habitats. At the remote sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands, the predatory insect Merizodus soledadinus (Coleoptera Carabidae), introduced in 1913, rapidly invaded coastal habitats. More recent colonisation of higher elevation habitats by this species could be underlain by their increased thermal suitability as the area has warmed. This study compared the effect of elevational range shift on the morphology and physiology of adult M. soledadinus sampled along two altitudinal transects (from the foreshore to 250 m a.s.l.) and a horizontal lowland transect orthogonal to the seashore (400 m length). Although high inter-individual and inter-transect variations in the traits examined were present, we observed that body mass of males and females tended to decrease with elevation, and that triglyceride contents decreased with distance from the shore. Moreover, protein contents of females as well as those of 26 metabolites were influenced significantly by distance to the foreshore. These results suggest that future climate change at the Kerguelen Islands will further assist the colonisation of lowland inland and higher altitude habitats by this aggressively invasive predator, by making previously sub-optimal habitats progressively more suitable.