Thermal Adaptation in Liriomyza trifolii (Diptera: Agromyzidae): From Interspecific Competition to Mechanisms

Global climate change has intensified temperature fluctuations, significantly impacting insect populations. Thermal tolerance has emerged as a critical determinant of species distribution and invasion potential. Liriomyza trifolii, an economically important invasive pest, has been rapidly expanding in southeastern coastal regions of China, gradually displacing its congeners L. sativae and L. huidobrensis. This competitive advantage is closely associated with its superior thermal adaptation strategies. Here, we first examine the temperature-mediated competitive dominance of L. trifolii, then systematically elucidate the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms underlying its temperature tolerance, revealing its survival strategies under extreme temperatures. Notably, L. trifolii exhibits a lower developmental threshold temperature and higher thermal constant, extending its damage period, while its significantly lower supercooling point confers exceptional overwintering capacity. Physiologically, rapid cold hardening (RCH) enhances cold tolerance through glycerol accumulation and increased fatty acid unsaturation, while heat acclimation improves thermotolerance via a trade-off between developmental processes and reproductive investment. Molecular analyses demonstrate that L. trifolii combines the low-temperature inducible characteristics of L. huidobrensis with the high-temperature responsive advantages of L. sativae in heat shock protein (Hsp) expression patterns. Transcriptomic studies further identify differential expressions of lipid metabolism and chaperone-related genes as key to thermal adaptation. Current research limitations include incomplete understanding of non-Hsp gene regulatory networks and laboratory–field adaptation discrepancies. Future studies should integrate multi-omics approaches with ecological modeling to predict L. trifolii’s expansion under climate change scenarios and develop temperature-based green control strategies.