Need for shared internal mound conditions by fungus-growing does not predict their species distributions, in current or future climates.

The large, iconic nests constructed by social species are engineered to create internal conditions buffered from external climatic extremes, to allow reproduction and/or food production. Nest-inhabiting eusocial Macrotermitinae (Blattodea: Isoptera) are outstanding palaeo-tropical ecosystem engineers that evolved fungus-growing to break down plant matter 62 Mya; the termites feed on the fungus and plant matter. Fungus-growing ensures a constant food supply, but the fungi need temperature-buffered, high humidity conditions, created in architecturally complex, often tall, nest-structures (mounds).

Tipping points induced by palaeo-human impacts can explain presence of savannah in Malagasy and global systems where forest is expected.

Models aimed at understanding C-savannah distribution for Australia, Africa and South America support transition to forest at high mean annual precipitation (MAP), and savannah grasslands of Madagascar have recently been reported to be similarly limited. Yet, when savannah/grassland presence data are plotted against MAP for the various ecosystems across the Malagasy Central Highlands, the relationship does not hold. Furthermore, it does not always hold in other sites on other continents.

Plant shade enhances thermoregulation of internal environments in Trinervitermes trinervoides mounds.

Microhabitats may be crucial in buffering organisms from temperature extremes, particularly given increases in maximum temperature associated with global climate change. For example, thermoregulation in termite mounds is influenced by prevailing ambient conditions, and plant canopies may reduce external temperatures, in turn lowering internal temperatures. This buffering may be crucial during heat waves.

Repeated surveying over 6 years reveals that fine-scale habitat variables are key to tropical mountain ant assemblage composition and functional diversity.

High-altitude-adapted ectotherms can escape competition from dominant species by tolerating low temperatures at cooler elevations, but climate change is eroding such advantages. Studies evaluating broad-scale impacts of global change for high-altitude organisms often overlook the mitigating role of biotic factors. Yet, at fine spatial-scales, vegetation-associated microclimates provide refuges from climatic extremes.

Madagascan highlands: originally woodland and forest containing endemic grasses, not grazing-adapted grassland.

Long considered a consequence of anthropogenic agropastoralism, the origin of Madagascar's central highland grassland is hotly disputed. Arguments that ancient endemic grasses formed grassland maintained by extinct grazers and fire have been persuasive. Consequent calls to repeal fire-suppression legislation, burn protected areas, and accept pastoralism as the 'salvation' of endemic grasses mount, even as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declares 98% of lemurs face extinction through fire-driven deforestation.