Journal
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
Volume 21, Issue 3, Pages 1092-1102Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12750
Keywords
ants; boundary layer; canopy; community; ectotherms; thermal limits; tropical forest; understory
Funding
- NSF [DEB 0842038, EF 1065844]
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1252614, 0842038] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The Thermal Adaptation Hypothesis posits that the warmer, aseasonal tropics generates populations with higher and narrower thermal limits. It has largely been tested among populations across latitudes. However, considerable thermal heterogeneity exists within ecosystems: across 31 trees in a Panama rainforest, surfaces exposed to sun were 8 degrees C warmer and varied more in temperature than surfaces in the litter below. Tiny ectotherms are confined to surfaces and are variously submerged in these superheated boundary layer environments. We quantified the surface CTmin and CT(max)s (surface temperatures at which individuals grew torpid and lost motor control, respectively) of 88 ant species from this forest; they ranged in average mass from 0.01 to 57mg. Larger ants had broader thermal tolerances. Then, for 26 of these species we again tested body CT(max)s using a thermal dry bath to eliminate boundary layer effects: body size correlations observed previously disappeared. In both experiments, consistent with Thermal Adaptation, CT(max)s of canopy ants averaged 3.5-5 degrees C higher than populations that nested in the shade of the understory. We impaled thermocouples in taxidermy mounts to further quantify the factors shaping operative temperatures for four ant species representing the top third (1-30mg) of the size distribution. Extrapolations suggest the smallest 2/3rds of species reach thermal equilibrium in <10s. Moreover, the large ants that walk above the convective superheated surface air also showed more net heating by solar radiation, with operative temperatures up to 4 degrees C higher than surrounding air. The thermal environments of this Panama rainforest generate a range of CTmax subsuming 74% of those previously recorded for ant populations worldwide. The Thermal Adaptation Hypothesis can be a powerful tool in predicting diversity of thermal limits within communities. Boundary layer temperatures are likely key to predicting the future of Earth's tiny terrestrial ectotherm populations.
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