Effects of Climate Change on Insects

Abstract Climate change is ten times faster now than in the last global warming event, 56 million years ago, with temperature and extreme weather dramatically increasing due to human activity. This rapid changes in climate affect all levels of biodiversity. However, despite their high global biodiversity, only 3 percent of global climate change literature is based on invertebrates. Evidence from the fossil record has revealed low extinction rates for insect families in past catastrophic global events and omic sciences have allowed a much deeper understanding of the insect physiological and phenological responses to heat and their genetic basis. Insects acclimate and adapt to climate change, but several fail and suffer important reductions in population sizes besides local and global extinctions. The challenge is mainly driven by climate change potentiating the negative effects of other stressful conditions such as deforestation and pollution. Some species, notably pests and vectors, benefit from current climate change and either expand their distribution ranges or invade new environments. Moreover, biotic interactions involving insects and other organisms are threatened by climate change, generating cascading effects and affecting ecosystem functions and human wellbeing. Refugia from climate change across continents are fundamental for insects to withstand climate change and are of priority protection. This book provides key reflections regarding what we know and ignore about insect physiology, evolution, ecology and conservation and concludes by identifying fundamental aspects that still limit our understanding of how insects respond to climate change.