Warming reduces the density-dependent divergence in emergence time for two competing parasitoid species

Climate change is expected to directly affect ectothermic species through their sensitivity to temperature, with cascading effects on populations and communities. Here we experimentally tested predictions from two non-exclusive hypotheses concerning the impacts of elevated temperature (+2°C) on interactions between a single host species (the azuki bean beetle) and two species of parasitoid wasps. We hypothesized that increasing temperature shortens the time that the host is vulnerable to parasitoid attack. This change in available resource should heighten intra- and interspecific competition among parasitoids, which could induce divergence in emergence times. We found that intraspecific competition of both parasitoid species was more intense than interspecific competition irrespective of temperature. The difference (d) in the emergence times of the two parasitoid species increased with the density of each parasitoid but decreased at the elevated temperature. Both parasitoids emerged sooner at the elevated temperature and experienced a reduction in body size. Thus, high levels of intraspecific competition (along with the consequent reduction in body size) may have attenuated the intensity of interspecific competition at the elevated temperature despite a reduction in the differentiation of emergence times.