dragonfly nymph

Effects of environmental warming during early life-history on libellulid odonates

Despite what “alternative facts” might have you believe, climate change poses risks to many organisms, especially ectotherms that depend on temperature for vital metabolic functions. Intraspecific variation in species’ responses to warming may be important in buffering populations from the detrimental effects of warming, yet we know little about how individuals vary in their response to warming. In her first 1st-authored paper, Ph.D. student Dachin Frances and undergraduate coauthor Jy Yang Moon (McCauley Lab), just addressed this problem in “Effects of environmental warming during early life-history on libellulid odonates” published in Canadian Journal of Zoology. Dachin and colleagues determined the degree of variability between dragonfly species’ egg-hatching times and the intraspecific variation in larval performance traits across different temperatures. Overall, closely-related species responded similarly to warming, however, clutches and individuals from different mothers responded differently to warming, indicating that intraspecific variation could protect populations from the effects of climate warming.

Congratulations on this First Paper, Dachin!

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