Thermal tolerance regulates foraging behaviour of ants

Roeder, Diane V.; Paraskevopoulos, Anna W.; Roeder, Karl A.

doi:10.1111/een.13118

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…As a result, a warmer climate will not impact all ants species equally. For example, it is often observed that ants with cooler optima for traits such as foraging tend to simply behaviorally avoid too warm conditions [64][65][66][67][68]. Our data nonetheless suggests that a substantial part of temperate ant species may reach a tipping point in the 25-30°C range of body temperatures, where the performance of some critical life-history traits might start declining.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Cold Comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict latitudinal distribution in ants

Willot¹,

Ørsted²,

Malte³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Metabolic compensation has been proposed as a mean for ectotherms to cope with colder climates. For example, under the metabolic cold adaptation/metabolic homeostasis hypotheses (MCA/MHH), it has been formulated that cold-adapted ectotherms should display higher/more thermally sensitive metabolic rates (MRs) at lower temperatures. However, whether such compensation can truly be associated with distribution, and whether it interplays with cold-tolerance to support species climatic niches, remains largely unclear despite broad ecological implications thereof. Here, we teased apart the relationship between MRs, cold-tolerance, and distribution, to confront the MCA/MHH among 13 ant species. We report clear metabolic compensation effects, consistent with the MCA and MHH, where MR parameters strongly correlated with latitude and climatic factors across species distributions. The combination of both cold-tolerance and MR further upheld the best predictions of species climatic niches. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that the association of metabolic data with cold-tolerance supports increased predictive value for biogeographical models in social insects. These results also highlight that adaptation to higher latitudes in ants involved adjustments of both cold-tolerance and MRs, potentially at the expense of metabolic performance at warmer temperatures, to allow this extremely successful group of insects to thrive under colder climates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Cold Comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict latitudinal distribution in ants

Willot¹,

Ørsted²,

Malte³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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show abstract

“…This may be explained by a relationship between CT max and foraging temperature. Whereas most ant species forage at temperatures far from their physiological limits (i.e., they are thermally risk adverse), some do collect rich food resources at temperatures close to their CT max (Cerdá et al, 1998; Roeder et al, 2022). It is possible that the two more heat‐intolerant study species have CT max values that are similar to the temperatures at which they most commonly forage, which means that an increase in CT max could allow them to forage over longer windows of time (Cerdá et al, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbohydrate‐rich diet increases critical thermal maximum in ants

Freires

Ferreira

Nascimento

et al. 2023

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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To understand species’ responses to climate change, we must better comprehend the factors shaping physiological critical thermal limits. One factor of potential importance is nutrient availability. Carbohydrates are an energy source that can directly affect an organism's physiological state. Ants are among the most omnipresent and ecologically relevant animal groups on Earth, and many ant species consume carbohydrate‐based diets. Additionally, as ectotherms, ants are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Here, we examined the relationship between foraging temperature, carbohydrate availability, and critical thermal maximum (CTmax) in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). First, we conducted a laboratory experiment using 3–4 colonies of two species that forage at high temperatures (Camponotus blandus Smith and Dorymyrmex thoracicus Gallardo) and two species that forage at lower temperatures (Nylanderia fulva Mayr and Dolichoderus quadridenticulatus Roger). Each colony was divided into two experimental subcolonies, which were given diets containing different carbohydrate concentrations (5 vs. 20% sucrose solutions). We then measured CTmax. We also collected ants belonging to these species in the field and measured their CTmax. We found that CTmax was highest for the two species that forage at higher temperatures. For C. blandus and D. thoracicus, workers given 20% sucrose had higher CTmax than workers given 5% sucrose. No diet‐mediated differences in CTmax were seen for N. fulva and D. quadridenticulatus workers. Additionally, the experimental ants in both treatment groups had higher CTmax than their field‐collected conspecifics, except in the case of C. blandus. If carbohydrate‐rich diets can boost heat tolerance in some species, it is possible that changes in resource availability could determine how climate change affects ants, especially species with carbohydrate‐based diets. Furthermore, these impacts could ripple across the entire trophic network.

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“…The issue of climate change that predicts an increase of mean global temperature may be important for the studied community (Parr & Bishop 2022). Considering that the thermal tolerances of species seems to be very linked to the current environmental temperatures, physiological limitations may impose an additional challenge for nocturnal ectotherms facing a rapidly warming planet (Roeder et al 2022). Arnan et al (2015), studying environments in the Mediterranean that present little seasonality, found that individuals within ant communities in these regions had similar thermal preferences among themselves.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under the sun or stars: how a dune ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) community is shaped along the day and night

et al. 2023

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Atlantic Forest (AF) is a threatened megadiverse biome distributed from north to south along the ocean of South America and is considered a hotspot of biodiversity. Currently, over 3000 ant taxa are known to occur in AF ecosystems, and many more are expected but may never be acknowledged. The patterns and processes structuring AF ant communities are not well known, urging such studies. Temperature is a fundamental environmental condition that modulates ant species occurrences at different local and regional scales. Global warming may deeply impact species occurrence, dynamics and interactions, and efforts to amplify our understanding of AF biodiversity are urgent. Ants are widely distributed in the dunes, and many species are sensitive to local changes in temperature as some species are considered thermophilic. In open areas such as dunes, the temperature varies considerably over 24 h, with great changes mainly between day and night. In this study, we sought to answer whether the foredune ant community of the Restinga, one of the habitats of the AF, is structured by temperature from day and night. For this, we tested the following hypotheses: (i) temperature influences ant diversity; (ii) in warmer periods, there is a decrease in richness, with an increase in abundance; and (iii) ant species composition varies throughout the day and, consequently, at different temperatures. We arbitrarily drew a parallel transect to the ocean composed of 15 pitfall trap units spaced every 30 m. Traps were changed in five sampling periods: T1 (9:10–13:10 h), T2 (13:40–18:40 h), T3 (19:00–23:00 h), T4 (23:00–03:00 h) and T5 (03:00–07:00 h). In each period, we recorded the ambient temperature and relative humidity. We recovered 11 ant species on the foredunes. Our results showed that the richness and abundance of ants in the daytime period was higher than in the night‐time period, suggesting that temperature positively affected these two parameters of the studied community. The species composition also changed over the sampling periods. Considering that our aim was to describe the species diversity across 24 h of sampling, this ‘quick‐shot’ of the ant community allowed us to determine that temperature and humidity shape their occurrence and activity. These results indicate that there is an interplay between these factors that are correlated and play an important role in structuring ant communities in Restinga foredunes.

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Thermal tolerance regulates foraging behaviour of ants

Cited by 16 publications

References 60 publications

Cold Comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict latitudinal distribution in ants

Cold Comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict latitudinal distribution in ants

Carbohydrate‐rich diet increases critical thermal maximum in ants

Under the sun or stars: how a dune ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) community is shaped along the day and night

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