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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.

Licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International according to these terms

Version 1.0 - published on 08 May 2024 doi:10.25334/FQQ0-PS90 - cite this

Keywords

  1. global warming
  2. beetle
  3. Biological species concept
  4. Cephaloleia
  5. crticial thermal maximum
  6. cryptic species
  7. elevational gradients
  8. thermal limits
  9. tropical insects
  10. Zingiberales

Alignments

  1. Resource Type
  2. Courses
  3. Course Level
  4. Bloom's Cognitive Level
  5. Vision and Change Core Competencies
  6. Vision and Change Core Concepts
  7. Four Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework
  8. Class Type
  9. Class Size
  10. Audience
  11. Lesson Length
  12. Key Scientific Process Skills
  13. Pedagogical Approaches
  14. Principles of How People Learn
Contents:
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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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