A research team from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) has published a study in Communications Biology showing how ocean acidification and warming — two of the main consequences of global climate change — can simultaneously affect the structure, mineral composition, and microbiome of bryozoans, colonial invertebrates crucial for forming marine habitats. The findings point to potentially serious ecological consequences under a scenario of accelerated climate change.

A 50-year love affair with hairy caterpillars reveals their squirmy secrets

Western tent caterpillars might not be on your mind every year, but during their peak outbreaks, they’re impossible to ignore—hairy larvae wriggling across roads and swarms of caterpillars climbing houses to form yellow silken cocoons.

They’re certainly on the mind of Dr. Judith Myers, UBC professor, who has spent five decades studying this native moth species and their boom-and-bust population cycles.

In this Q&A, she discusses her journey and findings from  a recently published study, including the caterpillars’ surprising resistance to climate change.

Summary:

- In early May, extreme wildfires in Manitoba ravaged some 8,667 square kilometers of land, claiming lives and forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,000 residents.

- A new study explains that conditions such as a combination of unseasonably warm temperatures, prolonged drought, and stressed vegetation led to the wildfires.

This study reveals that female Helicoverpa armigera moths utilize plant-emitted CO₂ as a key cue for egg-laying, preferring young leaves with higher CO₂ emissions to enhance offspring survival. However, the increase of CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere disrupts this oviposition strategy. Three gustatory receptors (HarmGR1, HarmGR2, and HarmGR3) were essential for CO₂ detection in H. armigera. Disrupting any of these receptors impaired CO₂ sensing and oviposition behavior. These findings highlight how climate change may alter insect reproduction and crop pest dynamics.