When it's hot and dry: Life-history strategy influences the costs and cost-limiting strategies due to heat wave and water limitation [RESEARCH ARTICLE]

Sugjit S. Padda, Jordan R. Glass, and Zachary R. Stahlschmidt The frequency, duration, and co-occurrence of several environmental stressors, like heat waves and droughts, are increasing globally. Such multiple stressors may have compounding or interactive effects on animals, resulting in either additive or non-additive costs, but animals may mitigate these costs through various strategies of resource conservation or shifts in resource allocation. Through a factorial experiment, we investigated the independent and interactive effects of a simulated heat wave and water limitation on life-history, physiological, and behavioral traits. We used the variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps, which exhibits a wing dimorphism that mediates two distinct life-history strategies during early adulthood. Long-winged individuals invest in flight musculature and are typically flight capable, whereas short-winged individuals lack flight musculature and capacity. A comprehensive and integrative approach with G. lineaticeps allowed us to examine if life-history strategy influenced the costs and cost-limiting strategies due to multiple stressors. Concurrent heat wave and water limitation resulted in largely non-additive and single-stressor costs to important traits (e.g., survival and water balance), extensive shifts in resource allocation priorities (e.g., reduced prioritization of body mass), and a limited capacity to conserve resources (e.g., heat wave reduced energy use only when water wa...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research