Some measurements of the microclimate within a Sri Lankan tropical rainforest

Mark, P.; Ashton, S. F.

doi:10.1016/0168-1923(92)90094-k

Cited by 64 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…A number of environmental variables are likely to be correlated with elevation, such as soil nutrient and water availability, and light regimes [34,[40][41][42][43][44]. Each of these might vary closely with elevation, and so any or all could be responsible for the observed effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests: spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity

et al. 2013

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Neutral and niche theories give contrasting explanations for the maintenance of tropical tree species diversity. Both have some empirical support, but methods to disentangle their effects have not yet been developed. We applied a statistical measure of spatial structure to data from 14 large tropical forest plots to test a prediction of niche theory that is incompatible with neutral theory: that species in heterogeneous environments should separate out in space according to their niche preferences. We chose plots across a range of topographic heterogeneity, and tested whether pairwise spatial associations among species were more variable in more heterogeneous sites. We found strong support for this prediction, based on a strong positive relationship between variance in the spatial structure of species pairs and topographic heterogeneity across sites.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests: spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity

et al. 2013

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“…In tropical forests, the climatic variables that influence mechanisms of heat gain and loss, such as solar radiation, air temperature and humidity (Porter & Gates, 1969;Stevenson, 1985), all differ within a short geographical space both within and between microhabitats (Kaspari et al, 2015;Mark & Ashton, 1992). In particular, a vertical gradient in these climatic variables exists from the forest floor to the canopy (Madigosky, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Darker ants dominate the canopy: Testing macroecological hypotheses for patterns in colour along a microclimatic gradient

Law

Bishop

Eggleton

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Gradients in cuticle lightness of ectotherms have been demonstrated across latitudes and elevations. Three key hypotheses have been used to explain these macroecological patterns: the thermal melanism hypothesis (TMH), the melanism‐desiccation hypothesis (MDH) and the photo‐protection hypothesis (PPH). Yet the broad abiotic measures, such as temperature, humidity and UV‐B radiation, typically used to detect these ecogeographical patterns, are a poor indication of the microenvironment experienced by small, cursorial ectotherms like ants. We tested whether these macroecological hypotheses explaining cuticle lightness held at habitat and microclimatic level by using a vertical gradient within a tropical rainforest. We sampled 222 ant species in lowland, tropical rainforest across four vertical strata: subterranean, ground, understory and canopy. We recorded cuticle lightness, abundance and estimated body size for each species and calculated an assemblage‐weighted mean for cuticle lightness and body size for each vertical stratum. Abiotic variables (air temperature, vapour pressure deficit and UV‐B radiation) were recorded for each vertical stratum. We found that cuticle lightness of ant assemblages was vertically stratified: ant assemblages in the canopy and understory were twice as dark as assemblages in ground and subterranean strata. Cuticle lightness was not correlated with body size, and there was no support for the TMH. Rather, we attribute this cline in cuticle lightness to a combination of the MDH and the PPH. Our findings indicate that broad macroecological patterns can be detected at much smaller spatial scales and that microclimatic gradients can shape trait variation, specifically the cuticle lightness of ants. These results suggest that any changes to microclimate that occur due to land‐use change or climate warming could drive selection of ants based on cuticle colour, altering assemblage structure and potentially ecosystem functioning.

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“…One possible mediator of climate change impacts on biological communities is microhabitats, which are generally decoupled from macroclimatic gradients and thus offer unique thermal regimes for organisms to persist in situ under climate change (Scheffers, Edwards, Diesmos, Williams, & Evans, ; Scheffers, Evans, Williams, & Edwards, ). Differences in microclimates within and among habitats, such as closed‐canopy forests and open habitats, can be comparable to or greater than gradients across altitude and latitude (Huey et al., ; Mark & Ashton, ; Scheffers et al., ). For small ectotherms that operate at the scale of microhabitats, microscale climate systems are especially important (Bonebrake, Boggs, Stamberger, Deutsch, & Ehrlich, ; Pincebourde & Casas, ; Potter, Arthur Woods, & Pincebourde, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cool habitats support darker and bigger butterflies in Australian tropical forests

Xing

Bonebrake

Tang

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Morphology mediates the relationship between an organism's body temperature and its environment. Dark organisms, for example, tend to absorb heat more quickly than lighter individuals, which could influence their responses to temperature. Therefore, temperature‐related traits such as morphology may affect patterns of species abundance, richness, and community assembly across a broad range of spatial scales. In this study, we examined variation in color lightness and body size within butterfly communities across hot and cool habitats in the tropical woodland–rainforest ecosystems of northeast Queensland, Australia. Using thermal imaging, we documented the absorption of solar radiation relative to color lightness and wingspan and then built a phylogenetic tree based on available sequences to analyze the effects of habitat on these traits within a phylogenetic framework. In general, darker and larger individuals were more prevalent in cool, closed‐canopy rainforests than in immediately adjacent and hotter open woodlands. In addition, darker and larger butterflies preferred to be active in the shade and during crepuscular hours, while lighter and smaller butterflies were more active in the sun and midday hours—a pattern that held after correcting for phylogeny. Our ex situ experiment supported field observations that dark and large butterflies heated up faster than light and small butterflies under standardized environmental conditions. Our results show a thermal consequence of butterfly morphology across habitats and how environmental factors at a microhabitat scale may affect the distribution of species based on these traits. Furthermore, this study highlights how butterfly species might differentially respond to warming based on ecophysiological traits and how thermal refuges might emerge at microclimatic and habitat scales.

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Some measurements of the microclimate within a Sri Lankan tropical rainforest

Cited by 64 publications

References 7 publications

Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests: spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity

Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests: spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity

Darker ants dominate the canopy: Testing macroecological hypotheses for patterns in colour along a microclimatic gradient

Cool habitats support darker and bigger butterflies in Australian tropical forests

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