Latitudinal gradients in plant-herbivore interactions and consequences for global climate change

Background/Question/Methods

Insects and plants represent the two major taxa of living organisms, both in abundance of species and amount of biomass.  Insect-plant interactions are complex, and currently we have little understanding of the interacting factors underpinning their structure (e.g. the relative importance of weather, climate, evolutionary history, competition, and spatial dynamics).  If we are to understand the impacts of climate change on the interactions not only between insect herbivores and their host plants, but also between other trophic levels (e.g. predators and parasitoids) different approaches may need to be used from those used over the past decades.  Environmental gradients are a useful tool for understanding the role of current climate in structuring insect communities been used as a surrogate for predicting responses to future climate change.

What is our current understanding of plant-herbivore interactions across latitudinal gradients?

What impacts with climate change have on these interactions?

What are the best ways to assess these changes?

These questions will be addressed via an assessment of the current literature.

Results/Conclusions

This presentation will assess the current status of our understanding of insect –plant interactions in a changing climate in Australia and worldwide. I will also assess how a southern hemisphere perspective is similar (or different) to that of the northern hemisphere, and the implications of this in relation to global generalisations.