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Fruit flies and global warming - Some like it hot
January 29, 2007Flies exposed to heat hardening were much more able to find their way to bait on very hot days than flies that weren't
Researchers working in Australia have discovered ways in which fruit flies might react to extreme fluctuations in temperature. Short-term exposure to high heat stress ("heat hardening") has been known to have negative effects on Drosophila. But Loeschcke and Hoffmann discovered that it can have advantages too. Flies exposed to heat hardening were much more able to find their way to bait on very hot days than were the flies that were exposed to cooler temperatures, but the heat hardened flies did poorly on cool days.
Loeschcke and Hoffmann did field releases with colored flies exposed to different heat hardening treatments to get estimates of a fitness component in the wild. They used the likelihood to be caught at baits in field sites without natural resources as an estimate of fitness in Drosophila. The results showed that heat treated flies were much more often caught at the baits at very hot temperatures while control flies were more often caught at cooler temperatures, while there was an overall balance between negative and positive effects of the heat treatment at intermediate temperatures. As Volker Loeschcke puts it, "a small amount of heat exposure really toughens flies up against a heat wave, but they don't do quite as well when things are cooler." This means that heat hardening is really important in climates where there are hot days over 37 Celsius in summer, but there's not much benefit when it's always warm or always cool. Hardening is likely to become increasingly important for survival as global warming makes our weather more variable.
University of Chicago Press Journals
University of Chicago Press Journals
Global Warming Current Events and Global Warming News RSSBrookhaven Scientists Take Off for Southeastern Pacific Climate Study
During October and November 2008, some 150 scientists from 40 institutions in eight nations - including scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory - will take part in an international field experiment designed to make observations of critical components of the climate system of the southeastern Pacific.
NASA study finds rising Arctic storm activity sways sea ice, climate
A new NASA study shows that the rising frequency and intensity of arctic storms over the last half century, attributed to progressively warmer waters, directly provoked acceleration of the rate of arctic sea ice drift, long considered by scientists as a bellwether of climate change.
Gas from the past gives scientists new insights into climate and the oceans
In recent years, public discussion of climate change has included concerns that increased levels of carbon dioxide will contribute to global warming, which in turn may change the circulation in the earth's oceans, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Researchers document world's mammals in crisis
From majestic African elephants to tiny and often unappreciated rodents, mammals on Earth are in a state of crisis. One in four mammal species on Earth is being pushed to extinction, according to the Global Mammal Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the world's mammals.
Are we trading energy conservation for toxic air emissions?
A team of Yale scientists has found that certain countries and some U.S. states stand to benefit from the use of compact fluorescent lighting more than others in the fight against global warming. Some places may even produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting.
Scientist proposes explanation for puzzling property of night-shining clouds at the edge of space
An explanation for a strange property of noctilucent clouds--thin, wispy clouds hovering at the edge of space at 85 km altitude--has been proposed by an experimental plasma physicist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), possibly laying to rest a decades-long mystery.
Researchers find animal with ability to survive climate change
Queen's researchers have found that the main source of food for many fish - including cod - in the North Atlantic appears to adapt in order to survive climate change.
IMPACTS: On the Threshold of Abrupt Climate Changes
Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn't received much attention. That's about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS - Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions - a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC.
Scientists working to protect NI from Bird Flu
Queen's scientists are involved in two international projects aimed to protect Northern Ireland's agri-food industry from Bird Flu and African Swine Fever, a disease which kills pigs.
Curbing coal emissions alone might avert climate danger, say researchers
An ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels might be kept below harmful levels if emissions from coal are phased out within the next few decades, say researchers.
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