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The Physiological Cost of Being Hot: High Thermal Stress and Disturbance Decrease Energy Reserves in Dragonflies in the Wild

E. U. Castillo‐Pérez,A. S. Ensaldo‐Cárdenas,C. M. Suárez‐Tovar,José D. Rivera‐Duarte,Daniel González-Tokman,A. Córdoba‐Aguilar

Published 2025 in Biology

ABSTRACT

Simple Summary Human activities can increase environmental temperatures and alter habitats, which may negatively affect insects—particularly those that experience strong differences between their body and environmental temperature, known as thermal stress. In this study, we found that dragonflies living in preserved dry forest sites showed higher thermal stress at lower maximum temperatures, while those in disturbed sites maintained consistent levels of thermal stress. Dragonflies under higher thermal stress tended to have lower amounts of lipids and proteins, which are key energy reserves. Individuals from disturbed sites also had lower energy reserves than those from preserved sites. We found a weak positive relationship between protein content and mean temperatures. Interestingly, individuals from preserved sites had larger thoracic mass, but this was only observed at high temperatures. Our results suggest that dragonflies exposed to both habitat disturbance and high thermal stress may be in poorer energetic condition and could be more vulnerable as temperatures continue to rise and natural habitats degrade.

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