Effects of microclimate and species identity on body temperature and thermal tolerance of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Hemmings, Zac; Andrew, Nigel R.

doi:10.1111/aen.12215

Cited by 24 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…They are effective behavioral thermoregulators and, thus, are adapted and sensitive to a wide range of temperatures (Angilletta et al, 2007; Chick, Perez, & Diamond, 2017; Jumbam, Jackson, Terblanche, McGeoch, & Chown, 2008; Lighton & Turner, 2004; Underwood & Fisher, 2006). Also, shifts in microenvironments due to climate change are expected to be particularly important to small‐bodied animals, such as ants (Hemmings & Andrew, 2017; Pincebourde et al, 2016; Pincebourde & Suppo, 2016; Scheffers, Edwards, Diesmos, Williams, & Evans, 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, we predicted that well‐hydrated animals would have relatively high CT max values. Although our study examined a community of ants from western North America (see below), these first three predictions are based on work in ants from other regions (Cerda & Retana, 2000; Clemencet, Cournault, Odent, & Doums, 2010: western Europe; Ribeiro, Camacho, & Navas, 2012; Baudier et al, 2015: neotropics; Nguyen et al, 2017: eastern North America; but see Hemmings & Andrew, 2017: Australia). We also tested a fourth hypothesis that native species are particularly physiologically vulnerable in urban environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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City limits: Heat tolerance is influenced by body size and hydration state in an urban ant community

Johnson

Stahlschmidt

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Cities are rapidly expanding, and global warming is intensified in urban environments due to the urban heat island effect. Therefore, urban animals may be particularly susceptible to warming associated with ongoing climate change. We used a comparative and manipulative approach to test three related hypotheses about the determinants of heat tolerance or critical thermal maximum (CTmax) in urban ants—specifically, that (a) body size, (b) hydration status, and (c) chosen microenvironments influence CTmax. We further tested a fourth hypothesis that native species are particularly physiologically vulnerable in urban environments. We manipulated water access and determined CTmax for 11 species common to cities in California's Central Valley that exhibit nearly 300‐fold variation in body size. There was a moderate phylogenetic signal influencing CTmax, and inter (but not intra) specific variation in body size influenced CTmax where larger species had higher CTmax. The sensitivity of ants’ CTmax to water availability exhibited species‐specific thresholds where short‐term water limitation (8 hr) reduced CTmax and body water content in some species while longer‐term water limitation (32 hr) was required to reduce these traits in other species. However, CTmax was not related to the temperatures chosen by ants during activity. Further, we found support for our fourth hypothesis because CTmax and estimates of thermal safety margin in native species were more sensitive to water availability relative to non‐native species. In sum, we provide evidence of links between heat tolerance and water availability, which will become critically important in an increasingly warm, dry, and urbanized world that others have shown may be selecting for smaller (not larger) body size.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

City limits: Heat tolerance is influenced by body size and hydration state in an urban ant community

Johnson

Stahlschmidt

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Tracking the behaviour of insects in the field is not without its challenges, although there is indirect evidence for behavioural thermoregulation in insects (Jakobs et al, 2015;Yin et al, 2018). For example, the CT max of ants is lower than the maximum temperature observed in the field (Hemmings & Andrew, 2017). And a stronger association between CT max and environment, in areas with low precipitation, is considered to be linked to a reduction in canopy cover and the ability to behaviourally thermoregulate in Drosophila species .…”

Section: Upper Thermal Limits: Acute and Fitness-basedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terrestrial insects and climate change: adaptive responses in key traits

2019

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Understanding and predicting how adaptation will contribute to species' resilience to climate change will be paramount to successfully managing biodiversity for conservation, agriculture, and human health‐related purposes. Making predictions that capture how species will respond to climate change requires an understanding of how key traits and environmental drivers interact to shape fitness in a changing world. Current trait‐based models suggest that low‐ to mid‐latitude populations will be most at risk, although these models focus on upper thermal limits, which may not be the most important trait driving species' distributions and fitness under climate change. In this review, we discuss how different traits (stress, fitness and phenology) might contribute and interact to shape insect responses to climate change. We examine the potential for adaptive genetic and plastic responses in these key traits and show that, although there is evidence of range shifts and trait changes, explicit consideration of what underpins these changes, be that genetic or plastic responses, is largely missing. Despite little empirical evidence for adaptive shifts, incorporating adaptation into models of climate change resilience is essential for predicting how species will respond under climate change. We are making some headway, although more data are needed, especially from taxonomic groups outside of Drosophila, and across diverse geographical regions. Climate change responses are likely to be complex, and such complexity will be difficult to capture in laboratory experiments. Moving towards well designed field experiments would allow us to not only capture this complexity, but also study more diverse species.

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“…In ants, it is possible to monitor behavioral responses to hot areas and to determine at what temperature these areas are abandoned (Spicer et al 2017). It is also possible to measure body temperature directly in live and dead individuals to see if thermal limits are exceeded (Hemmings & Andrew 2017). Instead of measuring CTmax visually, it may also be possible to measure it through changes in metabolism as in bed bugs (de la Vega et al 2015), which can be a useful approach for species of a small size.…”

Section: Relevant Vulnerability Endpointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At one extreme, this involves tightly controlling culture conditions of populations or species over one or more generations, as well as comparing taxa under highly controlled environments (Kellermann et al 2012a). On the other hand, comparative studies of taxa also include cases where individuals are directly collected from the field (Bishop et al 2017;Hemmings & Andrew 2017). Control can also fall between these approaches, such as experiments where field-collected organisms are held for a period under controlled conditions to acclimate them prior to testing Calosi et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative studies of critical physiological limits and vulnerability to environmental extremes in small ectotherms: How much environmental control is needed?

Hoffmann

Sgrò

2018

Integrative Zoology

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Researchers and practitioners are increasingly using comparative assessments of critical thermal and physiological limits to assess the relative vulnerability of ectothermic species to extreme thermal and aridity conditions occurring under climate change. In most assessments of vulnerability, critical limits are compared across taxa exposed to different environmental and developmental conditions. However, many aspects of vulnerability should ideally be compared when species are exposed to the same environmental conditions, allowing a partitioning of sources of variation such as used in quantitative genetics. This is particularly important when assessing the importance of different types of plasticity to critical limits, using phylogenetic analyses to test for evolutionary constraints, isolating genetic variants that contribute to limits, characterizing evolutionary interactions among traits limiting adaptive responses, and when assessing the role of cross generation effects. However, vulnerability assessments based on critical thermal/physiological limits also need to take place within a context that is relevant to field conditions, which is not easily provided under controlled environmental conditions where behavior, microhabitat, stress exposure rates and other factors will differ from field conditions. There are ways of reconciling these requirements, such as by taking organisms from controlled environments and then testing their performance under field conditions (or vice versa). While comparisons under controlled environments are challenging for many taxa, assessments of critical thermal limits and vulnerability will always be incomplete unless environmental effects within and across generations are considered, and where the ecological relevance of assays measuring critical limits can be established.

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Effects of microclimate and species identity on body temperature and thermal tolerance of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Cited by 24 publications

References 81 publications

City limits: Heat tolerance is influenced by body size and hydration state in an urban ant community

City limits: Heat tolerance is influenced by body size and hydration state in an urban ant community

Terrestrial insects and climate change: adaptive responses in key traits

Comparative studies of critical physiological limits and vulnerability to environmental extremes in small ectotherms: How much environmental control is needed?

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