Climate warming and drought modify galling effects on tall goldenrod.
Parker EG, Dobson KC, Young ML, Hammond MD, Zarnetske PL
Climate Adaptation
PubMedAs summers get hotter and droughts more frequent, the wildflowers and native plants in your backyard or local park face a double threat: climate stress and insect attack at the same time, and the combination can be far more damaging than either alone.
Researchers grew tall goldenrod — a common North American wildflower — under different combinations of extra heat, reduced rainfall, and attack by a fly whose larvae form growths called galls on plant stems. They found that warmer temperatures actually helped galled plants grow to a normal height, but when drought was added on top of gall damage, plants were far less likely to produce seeds. This shows that climate change doesn't just stress plants directly — it also changes how badly insects hurt them.
Key Findings
Galled plants were 7.1 cm shorter than non-galled plants under normal conditions, but warming eliminated this height reduction entirely.
Galled plants experiencing drought had the lowest seed production probability (0.47), lower than any other treatment combination.
Drought and warming interact with insect galling in opposite ways — warming buffered galling damage while drought amplified it.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A field experiment found that climate warming can soften the damage that gall-forming insects cause to tall goldenrod, but drought makes things worse — galled plants under dry conditions were least likely to reproduce successfully.
Abstract Preview
Plants must respond to changing climatic conditions while continuing to defend against herbivores. While numerous studies have investigated how one type of stress affects plants, the effects of mul...
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