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Rutschmann A, Perry C, Le Galliard JF, Dupoué A, Lourdais O, Guillon M, Brusch G, Cote J, Richard M, Clobert J, Miles DB. Ecological responses of squamate reptiles to nocturnal warming. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:598-621. [PMID: 38062628 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Nocturnal temperatures are increasing at a pace exceeding diurnal temperatures in most parts of the world. The role of warmer nocturnal temperatures in animal ecology has received scant attention and most studies focus on diurnal or daily descriptors of thermal environments' temporal trends. Yet, available evidence from plant and insect studies suggests that organisms can exhibit contrasting physiological responses to diurnal and nocturnal warming. Limiting studies to diurnal trends can thus result in incomplete and misleading interpretations of the ability of species to cope with global warming. Although they are expected to be impacted by warmer nocturnal temperatures, insufficient data are available regarding the night-time ecology of vertebrate ectotherms. Here, we illustrate the complex effects of nocturnal warming on squamate reptiles, a keystone group of vertebrate ectotherms. Our review includes discussion of diurnal and nocturnal ectotherms, but we mainly focus on diurnal species for which nocturnal warming affects a period dedicated to physiological recovery, and thus may perturb activity patterns and energy balance. We first summarise the physical consequences of nocturnal warming on habitats used by squamate reptiles. Second, we describe how such changes can alter the energy balance of diurnal species. We illustrate this with empirical data from the asp viper (Vipera aspis) and common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), two diurnal species found throughout western Europe. Third, we make use of a mechanistic approach based on an energy-balance model to draw general conclusions about the effects of nocturnal temperatures. Fourth, we examine how warmer nights may affect squamates over their lifetime, with potential consequences on individual fitness and population dynamics. We review quantitative evidence for such lifetime effects using recent data derived from a range of studies on the European common lizard (Zootoca vivipara). Finally, we consider the broader eco-evolutionary ramifications of nocturnal warming and highlight several research questions that require future attention. Our work emphasises the importance of considering the joint influence of diurnal and nocturnal warming on the responses of vertebrate ectotherms to climate warming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis Rutschmann
- Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale de Moulis, CNRS UAR2029, 02 route du CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
| | - Constant Perry
- Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale de Moulis, CNRS UAR2029, 02 route du CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
| | - Jean-François Le Galliard
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7618, IRD, INRAE, Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement (iEES Paris), Tours 44-45, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, 75005, France
- Département de Biologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMS 3194, Centre de Recherche en écologie expérimentale et Prédictive (CEREEP-Ecotron IleDeFrance), 78 rue du château, Saint-Pierre-Lès-Nemours, 77140, France
| | - Andréaz Dupoué
- Ifremer, Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, UMR 6539, LEMAR, 1625 Rte de Sainte-Anne, Plouzané, 29280, France
| | - Olivier Lourdais
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS UMR 7372-Université de La Rochelle, 405 Route de Prissé la Charrière, Villiers-en-Bois, 79630, France
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Life Sciences Center Building, 427E Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
| | - Michaël Guillon
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS UMR 7372-Université de La Rochelle, 405 Route de Prissé la Charrière, Villiers-en-Bois, 79630, France
- Cistude Nature, Chemin du Moulinat-33185, Le Haillan, France
| | - George Brusch
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University San Marcos, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Rd., San Marcos, CA, 92096, USA
| | - Julien Cote
- Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), UMR5174, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, CNRS, IRD, 118 Rte de Narbonne, Toulouse, 31077, France
| | - Murielle Richard
- Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale de Moulis, CNRS UAR2029, 02 route du CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
| | - Jean Clobert
- Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale de Moulis, CNRS UAR2029, 02 route du CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
| | - Donald B Miles
- Department of Biological Sciences, 131 Life Science Building, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA
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Krapf P, Arthofer W, Ayasse M, Steiner FM, Schlick-Steiner BC. Global change may make hostile - Higher ambient temperature and nitrogen availability increase ant aggression. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 861:160443. [PMID: 36436655 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 11/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Behaviour is a response of organisms to internal and external stimuli and comprises various activities such as searching for food. Aggression is important in such activities, for example, improving the chances of winning competition for food, but animals differ in their level of aggression. This behavioural plasticity allows individuals to respond to environmental changes and is important for the survival of animals. It may be an important asset in facing global changes, which affect all organisms, for example, via rising temperature and eutrophication. The latter have steadily increased since 1900, especially in high elevations. Their effects may first become visible in stationary organisms such as ants because their nests are strictly associated with the conditions on site. Here, we analysed eight populations of the high-elevation ant Tetramorium alpestre along several elevations spanning the European Alps. We conducted a correlative approach and analysed several genetic and environmental proxies, namely within- and across-colony genetic relatedness, cuticular hydrocarbons, body size, across-colony geographic distance, air temperature, and worker nitrogen values additionally to within-population aggressive behaviour. We hypothesised that a) these proxies and aggressive behaviour differ among populations and that b) one or more of these proxies influence aggression. We found that a) some environmental proxies and aggression differed among populations but not the genetic proxies and that b) air temperature and worker nitrogen-isotope values correlated positively with worker aggression. The results indicate an environmental but not social-structural influence on this ant's aggressive behaviour, even though social structure varied among populations (single- and multiple-queened colonies). We infer that global change affects aggression in our study system and propose five mutually non-exclusive scenarios to explain the behavioural change mechanistically. Using the space-for-time principle, we speculate that aggression may increase due to future increases in temperature and nitrogen availability in this ant and other species living in high elevations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Krapf
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, Innsbruck 6020, Austria.
| | - Wolfgang Arthofer
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, Innsbruck 6020, Austria
| | - Manfred Ayasse
- Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany
| | - Florian M Steiner
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, Innsbruck 6020, Austria
| | - Birgit C Schlick-Steiner
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, Innsbruck 6020, Austria
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Parr CL, Bishop TR. The response of ants to climate change. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:3188-3205. [PMID: 35274797 PMCID: PMC9314018 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are one of the most dominant terrestrial organisms worldwide. They are hugely abundant, both in terms of sheer numbers and biomass, on every continent except Antarctica and are deeply embedded within a diversity of ecological networks and processes. Ants are also eusocial and colonial organisms-their lifecycle is built on the labor of sterile worker ants who support a small number of reproductive individuals. Given the climatic changes that our planet faces, we need to understand how various important taxonomic groups will respond; this includes the ants. In this review, we synthesize the available literature to tackle this question. The answer is complicated. The ant literature has focused on temperature, and we broadly understand the ways in which thermal changes may affect ant colonies, populations, and communities. In general, we expect that species living in the Tropics, and in thermally variable microhabitats, such as the canopy and leaf litter environments, will be negatively impacted by rising temperatures. Species living in the temperate zones and those able to thermally buffer their nests in the soil or behaviorally avoid higher temperatures, however, are likely to be unaffected or may even benefit from a changed climate. How ants will respond to changes to other abiotic drivers associated with climate change is largely unknown, as is the detail on how altered ant populations and communities will ramify through their wider ecological networks. We discuss how eusociality may allow ants to adapt to, or tolerate, climate change in ways that solitary organisms cannot and we identify key geographic and phylogenetic hotspots of climate vulnerability and resistance. We finish by emphasizing the key research questions that we need to address moving forward so that we may fully appreciate how this critical insect group will respond to the ongoing climate crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine L. Parr
- Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological SciencesUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
- Department of Zoology and EntomologyUniversity of PretoriaPretoriaSouth Africa
- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental SciencesUniversity of the WitwatersrandWitsSouth Africa
| | - Tom R. Bishop
- Department of Zoology and EntomologyUniversity of PretoriaPretoriaSouth Africa
- School of BiosciencesCardiff UniversityCardiffUK
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