Short experimental heatwaves have sublethal impacts on male reproduction in a model insect

Cole, Benjamin, Vasudeva, Ramakrishnan, Dragoi, Kay, Hibble, Josie, King, James, Maklakov, Alexei A., Chapman, Tracey and Gage, Matthew J. G. (2025) Short experimental heatwaves have sublethal impacts on male reproduction in a model insect. Journal of Experimental Biology. ISSN 0022-0949

Preview

PDF (jeb250555) - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Heatwaves are becoming more common and severe. Previous work has highlighted male insects as being particularly vulnerable to multi-day continuous heatwaves, yet our understanding of short duration heatwave impacts on insects is limited. Here, we assess the impacts of short, simulated heatwave exposures (2, 5 and 10 hours [h]) using ecologically relevant temperatures (42°C, 44°C, 46°C, 48°C and 50°C) on survival, reproductive output, testes volume and sperm length in Tribolium castaneum. We show that reproductive output is compromised at lower temperatures than survival, especially during the shortest heatwaves, supporting the notion that thermal fertility limits are lower than thermal viability limits. Furthermore, testes volumes were reduced by 40% after a 10 h exposure at 42°C and sperm length decreased by 2.7% after an exposure of 42°C for just 2 h. This highlights that even short heat exposure can impact male fertility and reproductive trait morphology at temperatures below viability limits.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data and resource availability: The raw data files along with the associated R scripts with the codes for analyses have been uploaded to GitHub repository and will be made openly available: (https://github.com/rvasudeva83/sHW-fertility.git). Funding Information: BC was supported by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership [BB/T008717/1]. RV was funded by a Commonwealth Rutherford Fellowship (INRF-2017-254).
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Related URLs:	https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/arti...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	11 Jul 2025 15:30
Last Modified:	11 Jul 2025 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99889
DOI:	10.1242/jeb.250555

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item