Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies

Understanding how temperature affects biological systems is a central question in ecology and evolutionary biology. Anthropogenic climate change adds urgency to this topic, as the demise or success of species under climate change is expected to depend on how temperature affects important aspects of...

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Main Author: Nilsson-Örtman, Viktor
Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
Language:English
Published: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-62276
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spelling ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-62276 2023-10-09T21:54:37+02:00 Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies Nilsson-Örtman, Viktor 2012 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-62276 eng eng Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap Umeå : Umeå universitet http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-62276 urn:isbn:978-91-7459-529-1 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Growth rate metabolic theory of ecology universal temperature dependence environmental gradients thermal performance thermal sensitivity environmental variability optimality theory life history acclimation size structure competition cannibalism intraguild predation Ecology Ekologi Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis text 2012 ftumeauniv 2023-09-22T13:49:19Z Understanding how temperature affects biological systems is a central question in ecology and evolutionary biology. Anthropogenic climate change adds urgency to this topic, as the demise or success of species under climate change is expected to depend on how temperature affects important aspects of organismal performance, such as growth, development, survival and reproduction. Rates of biological processes generally increase with increasing temperature up to some maximal temperature. Variation in the slope of the initial, rising phase has attracted considerable interest and forms the focus of this thesis. I explore variation in growth rate-temperature relationships over several levels of biological organization, both between and within species, over individuals’ lifetime, depending on the ecological context and in relation to important life history characteristics such as generation length and winter dormancy. Specifically, I examine how a clade of temperate damselflies have adapted to their thermal environment along a 3,600 km long latitudinal transect spanning from Southern Spain to Northern Sweden. For each of six species, I sampled populations from close to the northern and southern range margin, as well from the center of the latitudinal range. I reared larvae in the laboratory at several temperatures in order to measure indiviudal growth rates. Very few studies of thermal adaptation have employed such an extensive sampling approach, and my finding reveal variation in temperature responses at several levels of organization. My main finding was that temperature responses became steeper with increasing latitude, both between species but also between latitudinal populations of the same species. Additional genetic studies revealed that this trend was maintained despite strong gene flow. I highlight the need to use more refined characterizations of latitudinal temperature clines in order to explain these findings. I also show that species differ in their ability to acclimate to novel conditions during ontogeny, ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Northern Sweden Umeå University: Publications (DiVA)
institution Open Polar
collection Umeå University: Publications (DiVA)
op_collection_id ftumeauniv
language English
topic Growth rate
metabolic theory of ecology
universal temperature dependence
environmental gradients
thermal performance
thermal sensitivity
environmental variability
optimality theory
life history
acclimation
size structure
competition
cannibalism
intraguild predation
Ecology
Ekologi
spellingShingle Growth rate
metabolic theory of ecology
universal temperature dependence
environmental gradients
thermal performance
thermal sensitivity
environmental variability
optimality theory
life history
acclimation
size structure
competition
cannibalism
intraguild predation
Ecology
Ekologi
Nilsson-Örtman, Viktor
Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies
topic_facet Growth rate
metabolic theory of ecology
universal temperature dependence
environmental gradients
thermal performance
thermal sensitivity
environmental variability
optimality theory
life history
acclimation
size structure
competition
cannibalism
intraguild predation
Ecology
Ekologi
description Understanding how temperature affects biological systems is a central question in ecology and evolutionary biology. Anthropogenic climate change adds urgency to this topic, as the demise or success of species under climate change is expected to depend on how temperature affects important aspects of organismal performance, such as growth, development, survival and reproduction. Rates of biological processes generally increase with increasing temperature up to some maximal temperature. Variation in the slope of the initial, rising phase has attracted considerable interest and forms the focus of this thesis. I explore variation in growth rate-temperature relationships over several levels of biological organization, both between and within species, over individuals’ lifetime, depending on the ecological context and in relation to important life history characteristics such as generation length and winter dormancy. Specifically, I examine how a clade of temperate damselflies have adapted to their thermal environment along a 3,600 km long latitudinal transect spanning from Southern Spain to Northern Sweden. For each of six species, I sampled populations from close to the northern and southern range margin, as well from the center of the latitudinal range. I reared larvae in the laboratory at several temperatures in order to measure indiviudal growth rates. Very few studies of thermal adaptation have employed such an extensive sampling approach, and my finding reveal variation in temperature responses at several levels of organization. My main finding was that temperature responses became steeper with increasing latitude, both between species but also between latitudinal populations of the same species. Additional genetic studies revealed that this trend was maintained despite strong gene flow. I highlight the need to use more refined characterizations of latitudinal temperature clines in order to explain these findings. I also show that species differ in their ability to acclimate to novel conditions during ontogeny, ...
format Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
author Nilsson-Örtman, Viktor
author_facet Nilsson-Örtman, Viktor
author_sort Nilsson-Örtman, Viktor
title Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies
title_short Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies
title_full Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies
title_fullStr Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies
title_full_unstemmed Thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies
title_sort thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in damselflies
publisher Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap
publishDate 2012
url http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-62276
genre Northern Sweden
genre_facet Northern Sweden
op_relation http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-62276
urn:isbn:978-91-7459-529-1
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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