Current evidence of climate-driven colour change in insects and its impact on sexual signals

Md Tangigul Haque*, Md Kawsar Khan, Marie E. Herberstein

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The colours of insects function in intraspecific communication such as sexual signalling, interspecific communication such as protection from predators, and in physiological processes, such as thermoregulation. The expression of melanin-based colours is temperature-dependent and thus likely to be impacted by a changing climate. However, it is unclear how climate change drives changes in body and wing colour may impact insect physiology and their interactions with conspecifics (e.g. mates) or heterospecific (e.g. predators or prey). The aim of this review is to synthesise the current knowledge of the consequences of climate-driven colour change on insects. Here, we discuss the environmental factors that affect insect colours, and then we outline the adaptive mechanisms in terms of phenotypic plasticity and microevolutionary response. Throughout we discuss the impact of climate-related colour change on insect physiology, and interactions with con-and-heterospecifics.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere11623
Pages (from-to)1-13
Number of pages13
JournalEcology and Evolution
Volume14
Issue number7
Early online date2 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2024. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • climate change
  • colour
  • insects
  • sexual selection
  • sexual signals

Cite this