She had spent time observing damselflies’ one-year lifecycle in Michigan. The work developed when first author Laura Twardochleb was a Ph.D. They see Michigan damselflies surviving climate warming by shifting into a lifecycle similar to their southern relatives - squeaking out two lifecycles in a season rather than one. The work differs from findings of similar models with less biological realism that predicted warming trends would doom predators. The work in “Life-history responses to temperature and seasonality mediate ectotherm consumer–resource dynamics under climate warming” finds that inserting the right level of data gleaned from field experiences, specifically the effects of seasonal changes in temperature on consumer lifecycles, creates a more robust predator-prey simulation model. “That rapid pace is going to be even more of an issue with the increase in extreme events like heat waves.” “We are seeing the pace of climate change is much more rapid than organisms have endured in their evolutionary experience,” said co-author Phoebe Zarnetske, an associate professor of integrative biology, PI of the Spatial and Community Ecology (SpaCE) Lab and director of the Institute for Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution and Macrosystems, or IBEEM. The results: A new respect for the blinding speed of global warming and a more realistic look at what a hot summer can bring to a nearby pond. Their work in this week’s Proceedings of the Royal Society B has a twist - combining seasons of observational and experimental work in the field and lab with input from a theoretical ecologist, a mathematician with supersized modeling creds.
Michigan State University biologists have studied damselflies - which resemble dragonflies and are abundant as both predator and prey in wetlands - to understand what happens throughout their lifecycle from nymph to winged insect, along with what they eat, when summers grow warmer and longer. Scientists scripting supercharged scenarios caution that the difference between seasonal coping and long-term adaption is vast - and tricky to predict.
Climate changes are conjuring a whirlwind ride that seems to present some creatures opportunities to thrive.
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