anlomedadImpressive study on heat adaptability of around 2,300 insect species in Africa and Peru across various altitudes
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10155-w
In layman's prose written by first author Kim Holzmann
https://theconversation.com/insects-in-the-tropics-are-already-near-their-heat-limits-climate-change-could-push-many-beyond-survival-279009
They hiked up mountains while collecting insects and subjecting them to forms of heat in a field lab.
Forms of heat: shock from 28°C to non-lethal 40°C. And other specimens in slow-burner, upping heat by 1°C every 2 minutes to 40°C.
Then the specimens were put in alcohol for DNA analyses at home.
They found that insects in low altitudes had already lost (additional) heat adaptability. While the higher up they went, same-species' proteins got protected for longer somehow before they melted and insects fell into stupor.
There is also a difference between Africa and Peru. In Africa, insects of the same family or same species were overall less heat-tolerant (already).
But Peru will see more intense climate change in the coming decades, they write.
Amazing study design.
#ClimateChange #Insects #ClimateChangeImpacts #Heat
Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature - Nature
A survey of tropical insect populations and thermal tolerance limits indicates that species from lowland areas have low capacity to survive increased temperatures, and that thermal tolerance is limited by fundamental properties of protein architecture.