Thermal Ecology of Cicadas and Associated Mammals

The thermal ecology of cicadas encompasses the strategies by which these large ectothermic insects maintain body temperatures conducive to feeding, signalling and reproduction, often in environments subject to rapid temperature fluctuations. Cicadas employ behavioural thermoregulation—basking on sunlit surfaces or retreating into cooler microhabitats—to sustain the narrow temperature window required for calling and flight. Variations in thermal tolerance among species reflect adaptations to latitudinal and elevational gradients, with tropical forest cicadas typically exhibiting higher upper thermal limits than those from cooler understory habitats. Urbanisation and the urban heat island effect have driven local shifts in cicada abundance, phenology and physiology, revealing species-specific capacities to withstand elevated minimum and maximum temperatures. Endothermic mammals associated with cicada emergences—whether foraging on nymphs or preying on adults—experience indirect thermal challenges, as cicada-driven heat loads and microhabitat alterations can influence mammalian thermoregulation, activity budgets and nutrient intake. Although research on cicada thermal physiology has advanced, the thermal responses of mammalian predators and scavengers to cicada availability remain poorly characterised, representing a critical gap for understanding ecosystem-level energy flows in a warming world.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have examined how two abundant cicada species exposed to urban warming differ in thermal tolerance and body size along a temperature gradient. One species maintained consistent heat-torpor and voluntary upper-temperature thresholds regardless of habitat, indicating limited plasticity in its thermal physiology. The other displayed increases in critical thermal limits and thorax dimensions in warmer localities, suggesting that morphological adjustments may underpin enhanced heat tolerance. These findings illuminate interspecific variation in the capacity to cope with anthropogenic temperature increases and highlight the role of intraspecific body-size shifts as a mechanism for urban thermal adaptation.

Thermal Ecology of Cicadas and Associated Mammals publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in thermal ecology of cicadas and associated mammals across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Behavioural thermoregulation: Active positioning or movement by an organism to regulate its body temperature using external heat sources or sinks.

Heat torpor temperature: The upper temperature limit at which an insect enters a reversible state of immobility due to overheating.

Minimum flight temperature: The lowest body temperature at which an insect can perform sustained flight.

Urban heat island (UHI) effect: The tendency for built environments to exhibit higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas as a result of heat‐absorbing surfaces and reduced vegetation.

References

1. Thermal Adaptation and Diversity in Tropical Ecosystems: Evidence from Cicadas (Hemiptera, Cicadidae). PLOS ONE (2011).
2. Urban heat island effect on cicada densities in metropolitan Seoul. PeerJ (2018).
3. Not all cicadas increase thermal tolerance in response to a temperature gradient in metropolitan Seoul. Scientific Reports (2020).
4. Thermoregulation and the influence of body temperature on calling song parameters in Cicada orni (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). European Journal of Entomology (2011).