Where you come from matters: temperature influences host-parasitoid interaction through parental effects.

11 pagesInternational audienceTemperature alters host suitability for parasitoid development through direct and indirect pathways. Direct effects depend on ambient temperatures experienced by a single host individual during its lifetime. Indirect effects (or parental effects) occur when thermal conditions met by a host parental generation affect the way its offspring will interact with parasitoids. Using the complex involving eggs of the moth Lobesia botrana as hosts for the parasitoid Trichogramma cacoeciae, we developed an experimental design to disentangle the effects of (1) host parental temperature (temperature at which the host parental generation developed and laid host eggs) and (2) host offspring temperature (temperature at which host eggs were incubated following parasitism, i.e. direct thermal effects) on this interaction. The host parental generation was impacted by temperature experienced during its development: L. botrana females exposed to warmer conditions displayed a lower pupal mass but laid more host eggs over a 12-h period. Host parental temperature also affected the outcomes of the interaction. Trichogramma cacoeciae exhibited lower emergence rates but higher hind tibia length on emergence from eggs laid under warm conditions, even if they were themselves exposed to cooler temperatures. Such indirect thermal effects might arise from a low nutritional quality and/or a high immunity of host eggs laid in warm conditions. By contrast with host parental temperature, offspring temperature (direct thermal effects) did not significantly affect the outcomes of the interaction. This work emphasises the importance of accounting for parental thermal effects to predict the future of trophic dynamics under global warming scenarios

Day/night variations of feeding and immune activities in larvae of the European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana.

14 pagesInternational audienceDaily varying intensities of exposure to infectious enemies should select for the evolution of a daily structure of host immunity with a marked peak and trough (i.e. a daily rhythm). Such nychthemeral variations have been documented for insect inducible immunity (responsiveness to microbial challenge), while the existence of similar daily patterns in basal immunity remains unexplored. Basal immunity is defined as the background, readily available protection aimed at preventing infection at any time. Daily rhythmic elevation of basal immunity should bear substantial costs and be performed only when facing highly predictable changes in threat of infection. This could be the case for risk of food-borne infection, presumably fluctuating with daily patterns of host feeding activity. This study investigated the existence of day/night variations in feeding activity and basal immunity, using larvae of the moth Lobesia botrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) raised under a realistic daily cycle of light and temperature conditions. At night, larvae (i) spent a greater amount of time feeding, (ii) displayed a higher total phenoloxidase activity and (iii) underwent subtle changes in the balance of some haemocyte types newly described for this species (increase in the relative abundances of prohaemocytes and plasmatocytes, decrease in the one of oenocytoids). These data provide the first evidence of nychthemeral variations of basal immunity in an insect model, with peaks in some immune effectors co-occurring with maximal feeding activity (during nighttime). The ecological implications and the contribution of this work to improve the general understanding of the temporal structure of immunity are discussed