{"title":"Critical thermal maxima in neotropical ants at colony, population, and community levels.","authors":"Geraldo Nascimento, Talita Câmara, Xavier Arnan","doi":"10.1017/S0007485324000567","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Global warming is exposing many organisms to severe thermal conditions and is having impacts at multiple levels of biological organisation, from individuals to species and beyond. Biotic and abiotic factors can influence organismal thermal tolerance, shaping responses to climate change. In eusocial ants, thermal tolerance can be measured at the colony level (among workers within colonies), the population level (among colonies within species), and the community level (among species). We analysed critical thermal maxima (CT<sub>max</sub>) across these three levels for ants in a semiarid region of northeastern Brazil. We examined the individual and combined effects of phylogeny, body size (BS), and nesting microhabitat on community-level CT<sub>max</sub> and the individual effects of BS on population- and colony-level CT<sub>max</sub>. We sampled 1864 workers from 99 ant colonies across 47 species, for which we characterised CT<sub>max</sub>, nesting microhabitat, BS, and phylogenetic history. Among species, CT<sub>max</sub> ranged from 39.3 to 49.7°C, and community-level differences were best explained by phylogeny and BS. For more than half of the species, CT<sub>max</sub> differed significantly among colonies in a way that was not explained by BS. Notably, there was almost as much variability in CT<sub>max</sub> within colonies as within the entire community. Monomorphic and polymorphic species exhibited similar levels of CT<sub>max</sub> variability within colonies, a pattern not always explained by BS. This vital intra- and inter-colony variability in thermal tolerance is likely allows tropical ant species to better cope with climate change. Our results underscore why ecological research must examine multiple levels of biological organisation.</p>","PeriodicalId":9370,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Entomological Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Bulletin of Entomological Research","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485324000567","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/9/23 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENTOMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Global warming is exposing many organisms to severe thermal conditions and is having impacts at multiple levels of biological organisation, from individuals to species and beyond. Biotic and abiotic factors can influence organismal thermal tolerance, shaping responses to climate change. In eusocial ants, thermal tolerance can be measured at the colony level (among workers within colonies), the population level (among colonies within species), and the community level (among species). We analysed critical thermal maxima (CTmax) across these three levels for ants in a semiarid region of northeastern Brazil. We examined the individual and combined effects of phylogeny, body size (BS), and nesting microhabitat on community-level CTmax and the individual effects of BS on population- and colony-level CTmax. We sampled 1864 workers from 99 ant colonies across 47 species, for which we characterised CTmax, nesting microhabitat, BS, and phylogenetic history. Among species, CTmax ranged from 39.3 to 49.7°C, and community-level differences were best explained by phylogeny and BS. For more than half of the species, CTmax differed significantly among colonies in a way that was not explained by BS. Notably, there was almost as much variability in CTmax within colonies as within the entire community. Monomorphic and polymorphic species exhibited similar levels of CTmax variability within colonies, a pattern not always explained by BS. This vital intra- and inter-colony variability in thermal tolerance is likely allows tropical ant species to better cope with climate change. Our results underscore why ecological research must examine multiple levels of biological organisation.
期刊介绍:
Established in 1910, the internationally recognised Bulletin of Entomological Research aims to further global knowledge of entomology through the generalisation of research findings rather than providing more entomological exceptions. The Bulletin publishes high quality and original research papers, ''critiques'' and review articles concerning insects or other arthropods of economic importance in agriculture, forestry, stored products, biological control, medicine, animal health and natural resource management. The scope of papers addresses the biology, ecology, behaviour, physiology and systematics of individuals and populations, with a particular emphasis upon the major current and emerging pests of agriculture, horticulture and forestry, and vectors of human and animal diseases. This includes the interactions between species (plants, hosts for parasites, natural enemies and whole communities), novel methodological developments, including molecular biology, in an applied context. The Bulletin does not publish the results of pesticide testing or traditional taxonomic revisions.