Insects and Abiotic Environmental Factors

Climate change

A shift away from historic weather patterns, with new, more unpredictable interactions, caused by an increase in global temperature.

Greenhouse gas

Gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and ozone, which contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation from the sun.

Poikilothermic

Maintaining the body at the same temperature as the environment; cold-blooded

Base temperature

The lowest temperature threshold, at which development will completely cease.

Diapause

A resting state that insects enter to avoid inhospitable environmental conditions; an extended dormancy in which metabolic processes drastically slow and development ceases.

Voltinism

Number of generations per year

Univoltine

One generation per year

Bivoltine

Two generations per year

Multivoltine

More than two generations per year

Phenology

The study of the timing and cyclical patterns of events in the natural world, particularly those related to the annual life cycles of plants, animals, and other living things.

Tree line shift

A movement of the boundary or elevation at which trees can grow and survive in a particular area.

Vector

An insect that can cause transmission of a pathogen from one organism to another.

Pathogen

A microorganism that can cause disease.

Biological transmission

The transmission of a pathogen from one host to another when the pathogen reproduces in the vector