Winter Is (Not) Coming: Is Climate Change Helping Drosophila suzukii Overwintering?

Abstract

Anthropogenic challenges, particularly climate change-associated factors, are strongly impacting the behavior, distribution, and survival of insects. Yet how these changes affect pests such as Drosophila suzukii, a cosmopolitan pest of soft-skinned small fruits, remains poorly understood. This polyphagous pest is chill-susceptible, with cold temperatures causing multiple stresses, including desiccation and starvation, also challenging the immune system. Since the invasion of Europe and the United States of America in 2009, it has been rapidly spreading to several European and American countries (both North and South American) and North African and Asian countries. However, globalization and global warming are allowing an altitudinal and latitudinal expansion of the species, and thus the colonization of colder regions. This review explores how D. suzukii adapts to survive during cold seasons. We focus on overwintering strategies of behavioral adaptations such as migration or sheltering, seasonal polyphenism, reproductive adaptations, as well as metabolic and transcriptomic changes in response to cold. Finally, we discuss how the continuation of climate change may promote the ability of this species to survive and spread, and what mitigation measures could be employed to overcome cold-adapted D. suzukii.