Data from: Transgenerational interactions between pesticide exposure and warming in a vector mosquito

While transgenerational plasticity may buffer ectotherms to warming and pesticides separately, it remains unknown how combined exposure to warming and pesticides in the parental generation shapes the vulnerability to these stressors in the offspring. We studied the transgenerational effects of single and combined exposure to warming (4°C increase) and the pesticide chlorpyrifos on life history traits of the vector mosquito Culex pipiens. Parental exposure to a single stressor, either warming or the pesticide, had negative effects on the offspring: both parental exposure to warming and to the pesticide resulted in an overall lower offspring survival, and a delayed offspring metamorphosis. Parental exposure to a single stressor did, however, not alter the vulnerability of the offspring to the same stressor in terms of survival. Parental pesticide exposure resulted in larger offspring when the offspring experienced the same stressor as the parents. Within both the parental and offspring generations, warming made the pesticide more toxic in terms of survival. Yet, this synergism disappeared in the offspring of parents exposed to both stressors simultaneously because in this condition the pesticide was already more lethal at the lower temperature. Our results indicate that transgenerational effects will not increase the ability of this vector species to deal with pesticides in a warming world. Bifactorial transgenerational experiments are crucial to understand the combined impact of warming and pesticides across generations, hence to assess the efficacy of vector control in a warming world.

尽管跨代可塑性（transgenerational plasticity）可分别使变温动物（ectotherms）抵御气候变暖和农药胁迫，但目前学界仍不清楚，亲本代同时暴露于气候变暖和农药胁迫，会如何塑造子代对这些胁迫因子的易感性。本研究以媒介蚊尖音库蚊（Culex pipiens）为研究对象，探究了单次及联合暴露于升温（升温幅度为4℃）与农药毒死蜱（chlorpyrifos）对其生活史性状的跨代效应。亲本暴露于单一胁迫因子（升温或农药）均会对子代产生负面影响：无论是亲本经升温暴露还是农药暴露，均会整体降低子代存活率，并延迟子代的变态发育进程。不过，亲本单一胁迫暴露并未改变子代对同种胁迫因子的存活率相关易感性。当子代遭遇与亲本一致的胁迫因子时，亲本的农药暴露会使子代个体体型更大。在亲本代与子代代中，升温均会通过存活率指标提升农药的毒性效应。但这种协同效应在同时遭受两种胁迫的亲本的子代中消失了——因为在此处理条件下，农药在较低温度下已表现出更强的致死性。本研究结果表明，跨代效应并不会提升该媒介蚊类在气候变暖背景下应对农药胁迫的能力。双因子跨代实验对于理解气候变暖和农药在跨世代间的联合影响至关重要，进而能够准确评估气候变暖背景下媒介生物防控的实际效果。