Someone like it hot? Effects of global warming on insect immunity and microbiota

Abstract

Global warming represents a substantial challenge on a broad range of organisms with diverse life-history traits and geographical distributions. Up till now several studies correlated global warming to changes in body mass, growth rate or fat content, whereas the effects on immune function and microbiota composition remained almost unexplored. On the contrary, some pioneering studies are showing that increased temperature may influence the insect immune function and the microbiota composition, making global warming in a pivotal position influencing insect survival and adaptation to a warming planet.

Keywords

• global warming
• immunity
• microbiota composition
• thermal tolerance
• symbionts