Naslov
Behavioral response to heat stress of twig-nesting canopy ants

Autori
Bujan, Jelena ; Yanoviak, Stephen P.

Izvornik
Oecologia (0029-8549) 198 (2022), 4; 947-955

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Formicidae · Heat stress · Insects · Ectotherms · Thermal tolerance

Sažetak
Tropical forests experience a relatively stable climate, but are not thermally uniform. The tropical forest canopy is hotter and thermally more variable than the understory. Heat stress in the canopy is expected to increase with global warming, potentially threatening its inhabitants. Here, we assess the impact of heating on the most abundant tropical canopy arthropods— ants. While foragers can escape hot branches, brood and workers inside twig nests might be unable to avoid heat stress. We examined nest choice and absconding behavior—nest evacuation in response to heat stress—of four common twig-nesting ant genera. We found that genera nesting almost exclusively in the canopy occupy smaller cavities compared to Camponotus and Crematogaster that nest across all forest strata. Crematogaster ants absconded at the lowest temperatures in heating experiments with both natural and artificial nests. Cephalotes workers were overall less likely to abscond from their nests. This is the first test of behavioral thermoregulation in tropical forest canopy ants, and it highlights different strategies and sensitivities to heat stress. Behavioral avoidance is the first line of

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija

POVEZANOST RADA