Journal article
Rain shadow effects predict population differences in thermal tolerance of leaf-cutting ant workers (Atta cephalotes)
Biotropica, v 52(1), pp 113-119
01 Jan 2020
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Tests of hypotheses for the evolution of thermal physiology often rely on mean temperatures, but mounting evidence suggests geographic variation in temperature extremes is also an important predictor of species' thermal tolerances. Although the tropics are less thermally variable than higher latitude regions, rain shadows on the leeward sides of mountains can experience greater diel and seasonal variation in temperature than windward sites. Rain shadows provide opportunities to test predictions about the relationships of extreme temperatures with thermal physiology while controlling for latitude. We tested the hypothesis that populations of leaf-cutting ants (Atta cephalotes) in leeward, montane, and windward sites in Costa Rica would differ in upper thermal tolerances (CTmax) of workers. As predicted from rain shadow effects via extreme high temperatures, the leeward rain shadow site yielded the highest mean CTmax (rain shadow site 42.1 +/- 0.3 degrees C, Montane site 38.2 +/- 0.5 degrees C, and windward site 38.2 +/- 0.3 degrees C). This suggests that high-temperature extremes in tropical rain shadow forests can select for higher thermal tolerances. CTmax increased with worker body size within sites, but CTmax increased with body size more gradually at the two lowland sites, as predicted if local high temperatures selected more strongly on the most thermally vulnerable society members (small workers). This suggests that warmer lowland climates selected for colonies with less variation in heat tolerance than cooler high elevation climates. in Spanish is available with online material.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Rain shadow effects predict population differences in thermal tolerance of leaf-cutting ant workers (Atta cephalotes)
- Creators
- Kaitlin M. Baudier - Drexel UniversitySean O'Donnell - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Biotropica, v 52(1), pp 113-119
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 7
- Grant note
- Organization for Tropical Studies' Tyson Research Fellowship Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University William L. McLean III Fellowship
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000500591400001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85076086133
- Other Identifier
- 991019168008104721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Ecology