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OCELOTS

Online Content for Experiential Learning of Tropical Systems

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What is a species? Using DNA barcodes to identify species and determine insect responses to global warming

Author(s): Carlos Carlos Garcia-Robledo1, Erin Kuprewicz1

University of Connecticut

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Summary:
Combining ecology, molecular tools and physiology, students investigate insect adaptation to temperatures along tropical mountains. Students integrate species concepts, DNA barcoding and thermal biology to assess organismal responses to global…

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Combining ecology, molecular tools and physiology, students investigate insect adaptation to temperatures along tropical mountains. Students integrate species concepts, DNA barcoding and thermal biology to assess organismal responses to global warming.
Contents:

Description

Tolerance to high temperatures will determine the survival of animal species under projected global warming. In this module, we will explore how this trait changes in insects living at different elevations. DNA barcodes are short gene sequences taken from a standardized portion of the genome, and used to identify species. DNA barcodes demonstrate that insect species previously thought to have broad elevational distributions and plastic thermal tolerances actually comprise cryptic species complexes. These cryptic species occupy discrete elevational ranges, and their thermal tolerances seem to be locally adapted to temperatures in their life zones. The combination of high species endemism and local adaptation to temperature regimes may increase the extinction risk of high-elevation insects in a warming world.

Learning Objectives:

  • Remember that species delimitation is a hypothesis
  • Understand the goals, uses, and limitations of species concepts
  • Apply molecular techniques to identify species
  • Apply methods to determine thermal tolerance in insects
  • Analyze species concepts, ecology, and physiology to understand insect responses to warming
  • Reflect on how human-induced global warming is already affecting tropical organisms

 

Support was provided by: Grant from the United States National Science Foundation (DBI- RCN-UBE 2120141, ORCC-2222328).

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