Data from: Climate and atmospheric change impacts on sap-feeding herbivores: a mechanistic explanation based on functional groups of primary metabolites

1. Global climate and atmospheric change are widely predicted to affect many ecosystems. Herbivorous insects account for 25% of the planet's species so their responses to environmental change are pivotal to how future ecosystems will function. Atmospheric change affects feeding guilds differently, however, with sap-feeding herbivores consistently identified as net beneficiaries of predicted increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations (eCO2). The mechanistic basis for these effects remains largely unknown and our understanding about how multiple environmental changes, acting in tandem, shape plant–insect interactions is incomplete. 2. This study investigated how increases in temperature (eT) and eCO2 affected the performance of the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) via changes in amino acid concentrations in the model legume, lucerne (Medicago sativa). 3. Aphid performance increased under eCO2 at ambient temperatures, whereby aphid fecundity, longevity, colonisation success and rm increased by 42%, 30%, 25% and 21%, respectively. eT negated the positive effects of eCO2 on both fecundity and rm, however, and performance was similar to when aphids were reared at ambient CO2. 4. We identified discrete functional groups of amino acids that underpinned the effects of climate and atmospheric change, in addition to plant genotype, on aphid performance. Effects of eT and eCO2 held true across five M. sativa genotypes, demonstrating the generality of their effects. 5. Combining this knowledge with amino acid profiles of existing cultivars raises the possibility of predicting future susceptibility to aphids and preventing outbreaks of a global pest. Moreover, environmentally-induced changes in the nutritional ecology of aphids have the capacity to change life-history strategies of aphids and their direct and indirect interactions with many other organisms, including mutualists and antagonists.1. 全球气候与大气变化被广泛预测会影响诸多生态系统。植食性昆虫占地球现存物种的25%，因此它们对环境变化的响应将决定未来生态系统的运作模式。然而，大气变化对不同取食功能群的影响存在分化，取食植物汁液的植食性昆虫始终被证实为大气二氧化碳浓度升高（eCO2）的净受益类群。目前此类影响的机制基础仍尚未被充分阐明，且我们对于多种环境变化协同作用如何调控植物-昆虫互作的认知仍存在缺口。 2. 本研究以模式豆科植物紫花苜蓿（Medicago sativa）为对象，探究了温度升高（eT）与大气二氧化碳浓度升高（eCO2）通过改变其氨基酸含量，如何影响豌豆蚜（Acyrthosiphon pisum）的生长表现。 3. 在常温环境下，大气二氧化碳浓度升高（eCO2）可提升豌豆蚜的生长表现：其繁殖力、寿命、定殖成功率以及内禀增长率（rm）分别提升42%、30%、25%与21%。然而，温度升高（eT）抵消了eCO2对繁殖力与内禀增长率的积极作用，此时蚜虫的生长表现与在正常二氧化碳浓度环境下饲养的蚜虫无显著差异。 4. 我们鉴定出了若干离散的氨基酸功能群，其介导了气候与大气变化以及植物基因型对蚜虫生长表现的调控作用。此外，温度升高（eT）与大气二氧化碳浓度升高（eCO2）的影响在5个紫花苜蓿基因型中均保持一致，证实了该效应的普遍性。 5. 将该研究结论与现有栽培品种的氨基酸谱相结合，有望实现对未来蚜虫易感程度的预测，并防控这一全球性害虫的爆发。此外，环境变化诱导的蚜虫营养生态学变化，可改变蚜虫的生活史策略，及其与包括共生生物与拮抗生物在内的诸多其他生物之间的直接与间接互作关系。