Heatwave ontogenetic timing impacts on potato crop-pest dynamics

<p>Heat waves – brief periods of unusually high temperatures­­ – are damaging to agroecosystems and are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Despite growing appreciation for the threat that heat waves pose pose to agricultural sustainability, we have a poor understanding of what determines their impact on agroecological interactions in the field. Here we report a field experiment that examined how heat waves and their timing interact with crop pest resistance to influence the interactions between potato (<em>Solanum tuberosum</em>) and its most damaging pest, the Colorado potato beetle (CPB; <em>Leptinotarsa decemlineata</em>). We used open-top chambers and ceramic heaters to generate heat wave conditions in field plots with pest-resistant (Atlantic) and -susceptible (King Harry) potato varieties at four CPB developmental stages (neonate, late-larval, pupa, and adult stages). We then assessed CPB performance at larval and adult stages, leaf herbivory, and tuber yield.</p>