How climate change affects the occurrence of a second generation in the univoltine Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae)

Abstract

1. Understanding the conditions that allow for the occurrence of an additional generation in populations that are usually univoltine is important under the present climate warming. In temperate areas, a second generation is enabled through the emergence of a time window that opens when first‐generation individuals are ready to reproduce and closes when second‐generation individuals cannot complete development before the onset of winter.2. The conditions that limit the width of this window were studied in Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae), a ground‐inhabiting heteropteran overwintering in facultative adult diapause, whose populations in Central Europe have typically been univoltine until the 1980s.3. The frequency of females of the first generation that started to lay eggs decreased from 70% in June to zero in early August, but oviposition of these females continued until the end of August. Using thermal constants for egg–adult development and temperature data, this study found that the development of most second‐generation individuals could only be completed before the start of winter if hastened through behavioural thermoregulation.4. Consequences of temperature increase on the width of the thermal window were calculated. Increasing temperature causes the time window to open earlier and close later by accelerating maturation of first‐generation females and improving conditions for maturing of the second‐generation individuals in late summer and autumn.5. Climate warming will create conditions that facilitate the occurrence of a second generation in a year in typically univoltine populations of this species.