How Might Climate Change Affect Adaptive Responses of Polar Arthropods?

Abstract

Climate change is expected to impact the global distribution and diversity of arthropods, with warmer temperatures forcing species to relocate, acclimate, adapt, or go extinct. The Arctic and Antarctic regions are extremely sensitive to climate change and have displayed profound and variable changes over recent decades, including decreases in sea ice extent, greening of tundra, and changes to hydrological and biogeochemical cycles. It is unclear how polar-adapted arthropods will respond to such changes, though many are expected to be at great risk of extinction. Here, we review the adaptive mechanisms that allow polar arthropods to persist in extreme environments and discuss how the effects of climate change at the poles will likely favour non-native species or those with the ability to rapidly evolve and/or acclimate. We find that physiological, behavioural, plastic, and genetic data are limited in scope for polar arthropods and research on adaptive responses to change is scarce. This restricts our ability to predict how they may respond to a warming climate. We call for a greater investment in research that specifically targets the ecology and evolution of these taxa, including genomic and transcriptomic approaches that can evaluate the potential for plastic and evolved environmental responses.