Global climate change is expected to have pervasive effects on the diversity and distribution of species, particularly ectotherms whose body temperatures depend on environmental temperatures. However, these impacts remain difficult to predict, in part because ectotherms may adapt or acclimate to novel conditions or may use behavioural thermoregulation to reduce their exposure to stressful microclimates. Here we examine the potential for physiological and behavioural changes to mitigate effects of environmental warming on five species of ants in a temperate forest habitat subject to urban warming. We worked in eight urban and eight non-urban forest sites in North Carolina, USA; sites experienced a 1.1°C range of mean summer air temperatures. At each site, we documented species-specific microclimates (ant operative temperatures, T ) and ant activity on a transect of 14 bait stations at three times of day. In the laboratory, we measured upper thermal tolerance (CT ) and thermal preference (T ) for each focal species. We then asked whether thermal traits shifted at hotter sites, and whether ants avoided non-preferred microclimates in the field. CT and T did not increase at warmer sites, indicating that these populations did not adapt or acclimate to urban warming. Consistent with behavioural thermoregulation, four of the five species were less likely to occupy baits where T departed from T . Apparent thermoregulation resulted from fixed diel activity patterns that helped ants avoid the most inappropriate temperatures but did not compensate for daily or spatial temperature variation: Hotter sites had hotter ants. This study uses a novel approach to detect behavioural thermoregulation and sublethal warming in foraging insects. The results suggest that adaptation and behaviour may not protect common temperate forest ants from a warming climate, and highlight the need to evaluate effects of chronic, sublethal warming on small ectotherms.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13860 | DOI Listing |
J Exp Zool A Ecol Integr Physiol
January 2025
Department of Biology, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, USA.
An animal's body mass is said to be indirectly related to its rate of heat loss; that is, smaller animals with higher surface area to volume tend to lose heat faster than larger animals. Thus, thermoregulation should be related to body size, however, generalizable patterns are still unclear. Domestic dogs are a diverse species of endothermic mammals, including a 44-fold difference in body size.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
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Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Departamento de Biología y Geografía, Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
Climate change is a global environmental threat, directly affecting biodiversity. Terrestrial gastropods are particularly susceptible to alterations in temperature and humidity and have develop morph-physiological and behavioural adaptations in this regard. Shell colour polymorphism and its potential implication for thermoresistance constitute an unexplored field in Neotropical land snails.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
January 2025
Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
Because hummingbirds are small and have an expensive mode of locomotion, they have constrained energy budgets. Torpor is used to buffer against these energetic challenges, but its frequency and duration vary. We measured lipid content, metabolic rates and torpor use in two species of migrating hummingbirds, calliope () and rufous hummingbirds () at a stopover site.
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NTU Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ, United Kingdom; Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
As opportunistic generalists occupying a range of ecological niches, chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) are considered a highly flexible species of relatively low conservation priority. Underlying their ecological flexibility is a repertoire of behavioral strategies observed in response to ecological stressors. Although these strategies are relatively well-documented, we know very little about how they impact upon an individual's thermal and energetic physiology, which can influence population-level reproductive potential in the face of climatic warming.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Chem Biol
January 2025
MOE Key Laboratory for Cellular Dynamics, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is the critical orchestrator of cell responses to heat shock, and its dysfunction is linked to various diseases. HSF1 undergoes phase separation upon heat shock, and its activity is regulated by post-translational modifications (PTMs). The molecular details underlying HSF1 phase separation, temperature sensing and PTM regulation remain poorly understood.
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