Interactive Effects of Temperature, Aridity, and Plant Stoichiometry on Insect Herbivory: Past and Present

The influence of climate on deep-time plant-insect interactions is becoming increasingly well known, with temperature, CO2 increases (and associated stoichiometric changes in plants), and aridity likely playing a critical role. In our modern climate, all three factors are shifting at an unprecedented rate, with uncertain consequences for biodiversity. To investigate effects of temperature, stoichiometry (specifically that of nitrogen), and aridity on insect herbivory, we explored insect herbivory in three modern floral assemblages and in 39 fossil floras, especially focusing on eight floras around a past hyperthermal event (the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) from Bighorn Basin (BB). We find that higher temperatures were associated with increased herbivory in the past, especially among BB sites. In these BB sites, non-N-2-fixing plants experienced a lower richness but higher frequency of herbivory damage than N-2-fixing plants. Herbivory frequency but not richness was greater in BB sites compared with contemporaneous, nearby, but less arid sites from Hanna Basin. Compared with deep-time environments, herbivory frequency and richness are higher in modern sites, suggesting that current accelerated warming uniquely impacts plant-insect interactions. Overall, our work addresses multiple aspects of climate change using fossil data while also contextualizing the impact of modern anthropogenic change on Earth's most diverse interactions.