Abstract
Some like it hot: Tropical ant community responses to rainforest modification and conversion are shaped by thermal tolerances
Highlights
Forest fragmentation, degradation and conversion to agroforestry or plantations are ongoing threats to forests across the humid tropics
Fragmentation and conversion to agriculture are associated with pronounced changes to vegetation structure that tend to increase mean temperatures and the frequency of high thermal extremes (Jucker et al, 2018)
We expect tropical ectotherms such as insects to be sensitive to such changes: most have limited capacity to maintain their temperatures at levels that deviate much from ambient, and they have evolved in an environments where daily and seasonal variations in temperature are small (Janzen, 1967)
Summary
Degradation and conversion to agroforestry or plantations are ongoing threats to forests across the humid tropics. One likely driver of varying biotic responses is a change to microclimatic conditions arising from altered vegetation structure. Fragmentation and conversion to agriculture are associated with pronounced changes to vegetation structure that tend to increase mean temperatures and the frequency of high thermal extremes (Jucker et al, 2018).
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