Assistant professor National Taiwan University Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)
Understanding how species and populations respond to changing environmental conditions is increasingly critical in an unprecedented world. Recent work has primarily focused on the direct impact of abiotic environments, yet the roles of biotic interactions in mediating species response to changing environments remain understudied. Using burying beetles and water fleas as two model systems, I address the question as to whether symbiotic interactions, both mutualistic and parasitic, influence host performance under temperature change. I found that (1) increase in temperature alters the nature of interactions between the burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides and their mites Poecilichirus carabi, for better or worse, in response to competition with rival species, and that (2) temperatures modulate host susceptibility traits in Daphnia dentifera, shaping the initial infection process and terminal infection outcomes when exposed to its fungal parasites Metschnikowia bicuspidata. Together, I conclude that the effects of species interactions should be considered to fully understand the mechanisms by which temperatures affect physiological responses and the knock-on effects for ecological consequences in both terrestrial and aquatic systems.