Abstract
Climate change imposes a strong pressure on the persistence of natural
populations and together with pollution it exerts a global threat to
biodiversity. While many transgenerational studies have revealed the
capacity of species to adapt to a temperature increase, it remains
unknown if this ability may change in a polluted environment. We set up
a full-factorial transgenerational experiment where Culex pipiens vector
mosquitoes were reared at two temperatures (20°C vs 24°C) and, when
they reached the final larval stage, exposed to one of two chlorpyrifos
treatments (absent vs present). We studied effects on larval survival and
age and size at metamorphosis. In both generations, warming and the
pesticide reduced larval survival and accelerated development in the
survivors. While warming reduced size at metamorphosis, pesticide
exposure did not affect size. As expected, the effect of chlorpyrifos on
mortality was stronger under warming. We could show delayed effects
of parental rearing temperature on their offspring with parents reared at
24°C producing offspring with a lower survival, slower development, but
a larger size at metamorphosis. For survival the effect was particularly
strong in offspring that was reared at 20°C, thereby providing evidence
for transgenerational acclimation resulting in poor offspring performing
under thermal conditions different from their parents. Parental pesticide
exposure influenced the response of the offspring to both stressors, with
offspring from parents exposed to the pesticide being more susceptible
to warming in terms of survival, but performing better when also
exposed to the pesticide in terms of size at metamorphosis. Our results
indicate some signals of transgenerational acclimation to the pesticide:
offspring exposed to the pesticide did better when the parents were also
exposed to the pesticide. However, when combining stressors, we could
show that parental pesticide exposure increased the vulnerability to
warming indicating the complexity of transgenerational acclimation.
This highlights the importance of looking at the combined impact of
pesticides and warming increase across generations to come to a better
understanding of the impact of pesticides in a warming world
populations and together with pollution it exerts a global threat to
biodiversity. While many transgenerational studies have revealed the
capacity of species to adapt to a temperature increase, it remains
unknown if this ability may change in a polluted environment. We set up
a full-factorial transgenerational experiment where Culex pipiens vector
mosquitoes were reared at two temperatures (20°C vs 24°C) and, when
they reached the final larval stage, exposed to one of two chlorpyrifos
treatments (absent vs present). We studied effects on larval survival and
age and size at metamorphosis. In both generations, warming and the
pesticide reduced larval survival and accelerated development in the
survivors. While warming reduced size at metamorphosis, pesticide
exposure did not affect size. As expected, the effect of chlorpyrifos on
mortality was stronger under warming. We could show delayed effects
of parental rearing temperature on their offspring with parents reared at
24°C producing offspring with a lower survival, slower development, but
a larger size at metamorphosis. For survival the effect was particularly
strong in offspring that was reared at 20°C, thereby providing evidence
for transgenerational acclimation resulting in poor offspring performing
under thermal conditions different from their parents. Parental pesticide
exposure influenced the response of the offspring to both stressors, with
offspring from parents exposed to the pesticide being more susceptible
to warming in terms of survival, but performing better when also
exposed to the pesticide in terms of size at metamorphosis. Our results
indicate some signals of transgenerational acclimation to the pesticide:
offspring exposed to the pesticide did better when the parents were also
exposed to the pesticide. However, when combining stressors, we could
show that parental pesticide exposure increased the vulnerability to
warming indicating the complexity of transgenerational acclimation.
This highlights the importance of looking at the combined impact of
pesticides and warming increase across generations to come to a better
understanding of the impact of pesticides in a warming world
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| Event | SETAC Europe: 27th Annual Meeting – Environmental Quality Through Transdisciplinary Collaboration - Brussels, Belgium Duration: 7 May 2017 → 13 Jul 2017 |
Conference
| Conference | SETAC Europe: 27th Annual Meeting – Environmental Quality Through Transdisciplinary Collaboration |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Belgium |
| City | Brussels |
| Period | 07/05/2017 → 13/07/2017 |
