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Are the Antarctic dipteran, Eretmoptera murphyi, and Arctic collembolan, Megaphorura arctica, vulnerable to rising temperatures?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2014

M.J. Everatt ,
P. Convey ,
M.R. Worland ,
J.S. Bale  and
S.A.L. Hayward
M.J. Everatt*
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
P. Convey
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK National Antarctic Research Center, IPS Building, University Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
M.R. Worland
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
J.S. Bale
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
S.A.L. Hayward
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
*
*Author for correspondence Phone: + 44 789 620 1770 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Polar terrestrial invertebrates are suggested as being vulnerable to temperature change relative to lower latitude species, and hence possibly also to climate warming. Previous studies have shown Antarctic and Arctic Collembola and Acari to possess good heat tolerance and survive temperature exposures above 30 °C. To test this feature further, the heat tolerance and physiological plasticity of heat stress were explored in the Arctic collembolan, Megaphorura arctica, from Svalbard and the Antarctic midge, Eretmoptera murphyi, from Signy Island. The data obtained demonstrate considerable heat tolerance in both species, with upper lethal temperatures ≥35 °C (1 h exposures), and tolerance of exposure to 10 and 15 °C exceeding 56 days. This tolerance is far beyond that required in their current environment. Average microhabitat temperatures in August 2011 ranged between 5.1 and 8.1 °C, and rarely rose above 10 °C, in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. Summer soil microhabitat temperatures on Signy Island have previously been shown to range between 0 and 10 °C. There was also evidence to suggest that E. murphyi can recover from high-temperature exposure and that M. arctica is capable of rapid heat hardening. M. arctica and E. murphyi therefore have the physiological capacity to tolerate current environmental conditions, as well as future warming. If the features they express are characteristically more general, such polar terrestrial invertebrates will likely fare well under climate warming scenarios.

Keywords

rapid heat hardeningacclimationthermal sensitivityrecoveryDipteraCollembola
Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 104 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 494 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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