Belgium

Insect geographical limits are tied to their ability to tolerate thermal extremes. Climate change is increasing both mean global temperatures and extreme weather event occurrences, which has implications for shifting habitats. This is not only making climates unsuitable for native species but also opening habitats for new species to invade. Mountain Pine Beetles (Dendroctonus Ponderosae; MPB) are a species of bark beetle that have expanded past their native range in the westernmost part of north America, severely impacting the forests of British Colombia and Alberta, and continuing to expand eastward. As a freeze-avoidant insect, Pine Beetles have the capacity to lower their internal freezing temperature and survive extreme cold through maintenance of ion balance and cryoprotectant accumulation. Unlike less tolerant species, MPB can avoid a catastrophic loss of ion balance that drives tissue damage in the cold, possibly through changes to renal function in response to chilling. To broadly investigate how one component of the renal system responds to cold stress, we conducted tissue-specific mRNA sequencing of MPB Malpighian tubules before, during, and after a simulated cold snap in winter, the results of which suggest that this species may shut down renal ion transport and thereby maintain homeostasis during cold stress.

SEB Conference 2025

Life signs below zero: Overwintering Transcriptomic Responses of the Mountain Pine Beetle Renal System

thermal plasticity

insects

transcriptomics

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SEB Conference 2026

SEB’s Annual Conference is celebrated for creating the perfect composition of research, new discoveries and collaborative connections. Be creative and innovative by exchanging ideas and knowledge with masters of biology from all over the world. 

technical paper

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SEB’s Annual Conference is celebrated for creating the perfect composition of research, new discoveries and collaborative connections. Be creative and innovative by exchanging ideas and knowledge with masters of biology from all over the world.

Small pelagic fish used to be a major component of commercial fisheries in NW Mediterranean Sea, but landings have drastically fallen over the last decade due to a severe decline in fish size and body condition. This situation seems to result from bottom-up control linked to changes in plankton size and composition. However, mechanisms behind these effects remain to be investigated. Through experiments on a captive population of sardines, we first showed that sardine growth and condition were significantly impacted by food size and quantity. We hypothesized that sardines expended more energy filtering small prey than capturing larger ones. To test whether foraging on smaller prey increases energy expenditure - especially under warming conditions - we conducted a second experiment. We examined the synergic effects of temperature as a direct consequence of climate change and an indirect effect through food modulation (size and quantity) on the energy expenditures of sardines. Interestingly, the energy costs of filtering mode on small particles were twice as high as those of directly capturing large particles. Despite lower digestion energy costs, the daily energy expenditures of sardines fed on small particles were greater than those fed on large items, and the gap widened as temperature increased. These findings highlighted how changes in prey size modified sardines' feeding behaviour, affecting their metabolism, likely altering energy allocation towards life-history traits (e.g., growth or survival) and explaining the current population situation.

Why sardines shrink in the NW Mediterranean Sea?

Early environmental conditions can exert profound and lasting effects on ectotherm phenotypes. However, we still lack a broad understanding of how developmental temperatures shape life history traits across different taxa. In this study, we synthesised data from >800 papers published over the last 110 years to quantify how embryonic temperatures influence development time, body size, growth, and survival in oviparous ectothermic vertebrates (i.e., fishes, reptiles, amphibians). I will discuss how deviations from optimal temperatures affect these life history traits, how these effects vary among taxa, habitats, and egg-laying strategies, and whether they have lasting consequences for ectotherm phenotypes. Finally, I will discuss how these findings can refine our understanding of the evolution of developmental plasticity and help predict the impacts of climate change on ectotherms.

Are embryos understudied relative to other life stages?

The harvest of animals from the wild can be intensive and selective on traits related to size, age at maturation, behaviour, and physiology. While the impacts of selectively removing animals are beginning to be understood for terrestrial animals and commercial food fisheries, removal has been overlooked in smaller-scale artisanal fisheries. This is surprising given that harvesting for ornamental fisheries is selective for traits such as size and colouration, and the methods used to capture individuals may work in a manner analogous to commercial food fisheries. Here, we use combinations of lab and field experiments to understand what traits influence vulnerability to capture, what traits may be targeted by different gears, and finally what are the behavioural decisions involved when encountering gears in the wild. In the lab, we found that individuals with a higher vulnerability to capture were smaller, fatigued faster, and had lower metabolic rates. In the wild, we found that gear type influenced behavioural traits such as boldness and sociability. The findings from this research offer a rare look at selective pressures in the ornamental fishing industry and contribute to our broader understanding of how we can use lab and field work to understand how selective harvesting may drive evolutionary changes in wild fish populations.

Fishing for answers: using lab and field studies to understand the impacts of selectively harvesting ornamental fish

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations have experienced marked declines throughout their native range in North America, with anadromous individuals being particularly affected. The anadromous ecotype of brook trout migrates to saltwater habitats, whereas the resident ecotype remains in freshwater. Both ecotypes can coexist within the same population and interbreed, but they are morphologically indistinguishable before parr migration. Since behavioural traits likely co-evolved with life-history traits, studying behavioural biology can help better understand the mechanisms that underlie ecotype determination, which is essential for optimizing conservation efforts. To explore the links between parr behaviour and the adopted ecotype, we quantified boldness, exploration, and aggressiveness in brook trout parr from the Sainte-Marguerite River (QC, Canada), comparing individuals captured downstream during their spring migration (anadromous) and in upstream tributaries (residents). All individuals were subjected to a shelter test, an open-field test, and a mirror test. Results showed that latency to emerge from shelter as well as explored surface area did not differ between ecotypes. However, resident individuals stayed mostly along the arena’s periphery during the open-field test, whereas anadromous fish ventured more often into the center, indicating greater boldness in the latter. During the mirror test, resident individuals exhibited significantly higher frequencies of striking their reflection than anadromous individuals. This suggests residents are more aggressive, which may reduce their need to migrate for resources. Overall activity increased with sampling date, suggesting seasonal variations in behavioural expression. These findings improve our understanding of ecotype-associated traits and provide insights for brook trout conservation.

Behavioural traits of brook trout parr (Salvelinus fontinalis): Investigating ecotypes

Larval fitness strongly determines a marine species' performance and population recruitment, influencing its role in ecosystem dynamics. As part of the planktonic food web, sea urchin larvae contribute to nutrient cycling and overall ecosystem stability. However, how environmental stressors like ocean acidification (OA) impact energy allocation and metabolic regulation during their development remains unclear. This study investigated how sea urchin larvae regulate their energy fuel to maintain homeostasis under normal conditions and how they respond to stress. Our results indicated that sea urchin larvae experienced a high-energy-demand phase before feeding. Our results indicated that sea urchin larvae experienced a high-energy-demand phase before feeding. However, under OA stress, mortality increased after feeding began, when energy consumption had already declined. Whether this is due to an imbalance between food supply and energy demand requires further investigation.

Unraveling the Energy Physiology of Sea Urchin Larvae in Response to Environmental Change

Non-consumptive effects, in addition to direct consumption, are recognized in shaping not just prey biology but also population dynamics, community structure and ecosystem function. One such effect is increase in energy expenditure due to glucocorticoid mediated stress response. Such prey, therefore, should preferentially seek out food rich in carbon to fuel the elevated energetic needs. We tested this prediction in herbivorous spiny-tailed lizards in Jorbeer conservation reserve in northwestern India, where they inhabit patches that are either abundant or poor in plant biomass. Additionally, the cattle carcass dumping ground inside the reserve attracts hordes of opportunistic carnivores/scavengers, creating a high-risk habitat for these lizards inside the reserve and a relatively low-risk habitat outside. We first measured the antipredator behaviour to confirm that these lizards perceived the predator presence as risky. We then collected blood samples to measure circulating glucocorticoid levels and field observations to measure the carbon:nitrogen ratios of their intakes across four treatments – high and low resource patches inside and outside the reserve. We found that although the lizard anti-predator behaviour varied in response to both risk and resources, glucocorticoid levels remained unchanged across patch types. The elemental composition of lizard diets also remained unchanged across treatments, indicating that their physiology was unaffected by either risk or resources. Overall, although food resources and predator presence interact to influence anti-predator behaviour and opportunity costs, it does not translate to changes in either stress response or nutritional intakes in spiny-tailed lizards

Balancing risk and resources: antipredator responses in a desert lizard

As immersive technologies become more accessible in education, traditional lesson planning strategies require thoughtful adaptation. This short presentation explores how standard approaches can be reimagined to support immersive learning, with a focus on reducing cognitive load for both students and educators. Drawing on early findings and conceptual frameworks from our work at Advanced Research Centre XR facilities, we emphasise the value of co-producing lesson content with learners to ensure relevance, usability, and engagement. While much of the current pedagogical use of XR is centred on medical and biological sciences, we are actively repurposing these frameworks to fit cognitive and psychological science education as well. Our approach places students as collaborators in the design process, ensuring immersive lessons not only align with learning objectives but also support user-centred interaction within XR environments.

Lesson Planning for Immersive Education: Collaboration, Cognitive Load, and Contextual Fit

Evolution adapted photosynthesis to many different environmental conditions, even within plant species. The resulting genetic architecture underlying photosynthesis can 1) point at novel genes as targets for improvements, 2) generate new mechanistic insights and 3) pave the way to novel breeding methods. So far, the impact of variation in chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes are largely ignored due to the difficulty in separating their effect from nuclear-derived variation. Therefore, we developed methods to study how genetic variation for cyto-nuclear interactions responds to dynamic environmental conditions.
Using haploid-inducer lines we developed an efficient method to generate new organelle-nuclear combinations, with the resulting genotypes referred to as cybrids. A large cybrid panel representing species wide organelle variation inArabidopsis thalianareveals variation for a large range of chlorophyll fluorescence-derived photosynthetic traits. We found that genetic variation in theNdhGgene can result in increased photosynthetic performance. Follow up work revealed that NDH mediated cyclic electron flow has a trade-off on photosystem II efficiency, which impacts the biomass significantly. On the nuclear side, a segregating population between two genotypes, revealed a dozen QTLs connected to photosynthetic traits. Interestingly, these were caused by several different processes and heavily dependent on the dynamic light regime.
All together it shows that there is ample room for improvement of photosynthetic traits, not only in the nuclear genome but also hidden in the organellar genomes. These findings are now extended to novel methods on how genetic variation can be used to identify when photosynthesis is limiting yield in crops.

What can we learn from genetic variation for cyto-nuclear interactions?

Molecular evidence for stomatal adaptive evolution of drought tolerance in wild cereals

To explore opportunities for engineering improved photosynthesis in rice, Rubisco enzyme kinetics and activation were re-parameterised, and activity of enzymes involved in RuBP-regeneration and sucrose synthesis re-scaled in a digital twin of photosynthetic metabolism (e-Photosynthesis). By contrast with soybean and potato, the new digital twin of rice photosynthesis is consistent with higher leaf-level investment in photosynthetic enzymes. Despite this, optimisation of CO2  assimilation using an evolutionary algorithm to reallocate protein among enzymes resulted in reallocation to Rubisco across a wide range of [CO2 ]. As [CO2 ] increased, so too did reallocation to Calvin Cycle enzymes previously identified by e-Photosynthesis as important limits on RuBP-regeneration in tobacco and potato. From these results, alternative sets of target enzymes were identified for strategic overexpression, targeting improvement of photosynthesis under three conditions: low [CO2 ] consistent with abiotic stress, non-stressed current conditions, and future, higher [CO2 ]. Some target enzymes have already been overexpressed in planta, so achieved increases in enzyme concentrations were used to constrain in silico evaluation of strategies. Improvements to photosynthesis were similar among strategies at high [CO2 ] and modest compared with complete optimisation of protein allocation. Despite all strategies increasing both Rubisco and RuBP-regeneration enzymes, benefits to CO2  assimilation were greatest at low [CO2 ]. In rice, a realistic expectation seems to be that rather than step-changes under yield potential conditions, photosynthetic improvement will be most beneficial under conditions where [CO2 ] diffusion is limiting, consistent with real-world conditions of mild abiotic stress.

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Why sardines shrink in the NW Mediterranean Sea?

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