Tropical Communities Research Articles

Potential impacts of climate change on agriculture and fisheries production in 72 tropical coastal communities

Climate change is expected to profoundly affect key food production sectors, including fisheries and agriculture. However, the potential impacts of climate change on these sectors are rarely considered jointly, especially below national scales, which can mask substantial variability in how communities will be affected. Here, we combine socioeconomic surveys of 3,008 households and intersectoral multi-model simulation outputs to conduct a sub-national analysis of the potential impacts of climate change on fisheries and agriculture in 72 coastal communities across five Indo-Pacific countries (Indonesia, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Tanzania). Our study reveals three key findings: First, overall potential losses to fisheries are higher than potential losses to agriculture. Second, while most locations (> 2/3) will experience potential losses to both fisheries and agriculture simultaneously, climate change mitigation could reduce the proportion of places facing that double burden. Third, potential impacts are more likely in communities with lower socioeconomic status.

Evaluating Satellite Sounders for Monitoring the Tropical Cyclone Environment in Operational Forecasting

Tropical cyclones can form over open ocean where in situ observations are limited, so forecasters rely on satellite observations to monitor their development and track. We explore the utility of an operational satellite sounding product for tropical forecasting by characterizing the products retrieval skill during research flights. Scientists from both the NOAA-Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) research team and tropical cyclone communities collaborated to target relevant tropical cyclones during the campaign. This effort produced 130 dropsondes that are well-timed with satellite sounder overpasses over three different tropical cyclones and one Saharan Air Layer outbreak. For the combined infrared and microwave retrieval, the NUCAPS temperature has a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.2 K near the surface (1000–600 mb) and 0.8 K in the mid-troposphere (600–300 mb), which is in line with global product requirements. The water vapor mixing ratio RMSE was 26% near the surface and 46% in the mid-troposphere. NUCAPS microwave-only retrievals can also be useful for cloudy scenes, with surface RMSE values of 4 K (temperature) and 23% (water vapor). Using information content analysis, we estimated that the vertical resolution near the surface was 1.7 km for the temperature retrievals and 2.2 km for the water vapor retrievals in this study. We discuss the feasibility of implementing NUCAPS in an operational forecasting setting, which requires rapid data delivery to forecaster software tools.

Testing the role of local plant chemical diversity on plant-herbivore interactions and plant species coexistence.

Accumulating evidence suggests that herbivorous insects influence the local composition and richness of Neotropical plant species, particularly in species-rich genera. Species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and chemical diversity all influence the ability of insect herbivores to find and utilize their hosts. The relative impact of these components of diversity on species coexistence and plant-herbivore interactions is not well understood. We constructed 60 local communities of up to 13 species of Piper (Piperaceae) in native, mature forest at a lowland wet forest location in Costa Rica. The species composition of each community was chosen such that species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and GCMS-based chemical diversity were varied independently among communities. We predicted that chemical diversity would most strongly affect the communities across time, with smaller effects of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity. At 13 months after the experimental planting, we assessed survivorship of each cutting, measured total leaf area loss of the survivors, leaf area loss to generalist and specialist herbivorous insect species, and local extinction of species. Generalist and specialist herbivory decreased with increasing levels of species richness and phylogenetic diversity, respectively. Surprisingly, there was no independent effect of chemical diversity on any of the three measures of herbivore damage. Nevertheless, plots with a higher chemical and phylogenetic diversity showed decreased plant mortality and local species extinction. Overall, our results suggested that both chemical and phylogenetic similarity are important factors in the assembly and maintenance of tropical plant communities. The fact that chemical diversity influences plant mortality suggests that leaf herbivores, and possibly other plant natural enemies, could increase plant diversity via the selective mortality of similar chemotypes.

Topological analysis of orchid-fungal endophyte interaction shows lack of phylogenetic preference

Fungal endophytes are known to play a vital role in perpetuation and survival of orchids. While orchid–mycorrhizal relationship has been studied in detail, dynamics of orchid–non-mycorrhizal associations are insufficiently explored. There is paucity of empirical evidence for host specificity, phylogenetic preference, co-evolution, and habitat selection amongst orchids and their non-mycorrhizal endophytes. We explored these aspects by studying the root associated non-mycorrhizal fungal assemblages from 11 epiphytic orchid species in two tropical communities located at Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. A total of 94 non-mycorrhizal fungal isolates were mined. Of these 55 isolates could be identified at species level, while 39 isolates were circumscribed at generic level using the ITS region. The core group fungal assemblages predominantly belonged to Ascomycota. The extent of mutualistic reliance was inferred by mapping the bipartite interaction in a phylogenetic framework. The analysis shows that the orchid–non-mycorrhizal associations are neither clade specific nor nested, rather they depend on the availability of suitable fungal taxon at the sites. The study also indicates the absence of phylogenetic preference between the partners. However, topology of the bipartite interaction network suggests that there has been a shift from specialised interaction in the basal clades, to generalised one in the later evolved clades.

Effects of Habitat and Competition on Niche Partitioning and Community Structure in Neotropical Ants

Competition for limited resources can yield two contrasting outcomes in community structure, namely, either (i) dominance of most competitive species (with functional convergence of the traits conferring this ability), or (ii) niche partitioning of species using distinct resources. In addition, varying resource availability in different environmental contexts is expected to yield varying community dynamics and composition between the contexts (habitat filtering). We addressed resource-based ant community structure in a tropical ecosystem. We expected ant species to display varying trophic preferences and foraging behaviors, allowing habitat selection and niche differentiation in ant assemblages. Furthermore, we expected habitat filtering to occur between open and forested areas in the landscape mosaic, and competition to further influence local species co-occurrence. We assessed resource use in nine ant assemblages distributed in two habitats (i.e., forests and croplands), devising two separate experiments using bait-traps to characterize ant species’ trophic preference (e.g., eating prey, seeds, sugars) and their ability to obtain a same resource in heterogeneous forms (e.g., on vegetation, litter, with variable amounts…). The majority of baits offered were rapidly exploited in the two habitats suggesting important resource limitations. Forest and cropland ant communities differed, however, in the proportions of resources exploited, suggesting different competitive pressures toward specific resources between habitats. Within each habitat, ants preferentially exploited the same resources, suggesting habitat filtering, but locally, interspecific resource partitioning resulted in a reduction of resource overlap compared to habitat scale. Our study provides evidence of the effects of habitat filtering and competition for resource in tropical ant community structure. Our findings also suggest that niche filtering and niche partitioning are co-variant forces determining the identity of the species present in local assemblages.

The above–belowground functional space of tropical dry forest communities responds to local hydric habitats

AbstractTropical dry forests are environmentally complex ecosystems with highly heterogeneous water availability, such that distinctive plant communities are found in contrasting habitats in close proximity to each other. This leads to the question of how resource heterogeneity has led to functional heterogeneity among communities. One hypothesis is that the main trade‐offs and the size of the functional space should diverge between communities that differ in their most limiting resource. To test this, we compared aboveground and belowground traits of saplings of 33 dominant species from the dry forest plant communities of two locations that differ in water and also in light availability. In the drier community, the major functional dimension described a trade‐off between drought tolerance and drought avoidance strategies. This dimension was also evident in the wetter community; however, traits related to the efficiency of resource capture were decoupled from the drought tolerance‐drought avoidance trade‐off. Trees from the wetter community tended to develop more efficient fine roots for resource capture. The functional space of the drier and more heterogenous forest was larger than the wetter forest, and plant strategies to deal with drought accounted for a much larger portion of trait variation. Overall, functional differentiation may occur between systems that are close in proximity but differ in the availability of resources such as water and light. These environmental differences cause plant communities to differ in functional properties both aboveground and belowground, likely promoting heterogeneous responses to anthropogenic and natural disturbances at the landscape scale.Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.

Seed dormancy and germination behaviour of tropical rainforest tree species from Sri Lanka

AbstractPlant community-level studies on seed dormancy traits are important to understand and determine the significance of seed dormancy in different ecosystems. Hence, we studied seed dormancy and other related seed biological traits of 42 selected tropical lowland rainforest tree species from Sri Lanka, aiming to address seed dormancy class(es) for a biodiverse tropical lowland wet zone forest community and the relationship between dormancy classes, forest strata and seed dispersal mechanisms. Seed germination, imbibition, embryo length:seed length ratio, embryo morphology and the effect of gibberrelic acid on seed germination were determined. Sixty-two percent of the species with T50 < 30 days were identified as having fast-germinating seeds and the remaining 38% with T50 > 30 possessed slow-germinating seeds. Seeds of 33 species had fully developed embryos, while nine species had underdeveloped embryos; three had morphological dormancy (MD) and six morphophysiological dormancy (MPD). Treatment with gibberellic acid revealed physiological dormancy (PD) in seeds of six species, and the response to manual scarification confirmed physical dormancy (PY) in seeds of Pericopsis moonina. The majority of tropical lowland rainforests had non-dormant (ND) species (62%), and 14.3, 14.3, 7 and 2.3% of the species had MPD, PD, MD, and PY, respectively. Non-dormancy decreased for taxa from the upper strata to the lower strata of the forest. ND seeds were dispersed during the rainy season. Thus, non-dormancy seems to be the most dominant germination behaviour among the tree species in the lowland rainforest of Sri Lanka with the class of dormancy related to forest strata and dispersal time.

Microhabitat, altitude and seasonal influence on the abundance of non-volant small mammals in Mount Rungwe forest nature reserve

A study on microhabitat, altitudinal and seasonal influences on small mammal abundance in Mount Rungwe Nature Forest Reserve, Tanzania was carried out from March 2019 to February 2020 during the wet and dry seasons. Live traps were used in six grids and six transect lines for capturing small mammals at the low, mid, and high elevations (1700–2600 m.a.s.l.). Generalized linear models were used to examine the effects of microhabitat characteristics, altitude, and seasons on the relative abundance of small mammals. A total of 444 rodents and shrews were recorded on 4320 trap nights. Rodent species recorded included Beamys hindei, Cricetomys ansorgei, Dendromus insignis, Grammomys ibeanus, Graphiurus murinus, Lophuromys machangui, Praomys delectorum, and one shrew, Crocidura sp . Overall, P. delectorum was the most dominant species in all elevations, with 68.9% of all captures. Mid elevation had a higher abundance of small mammals (Estimate ± SE = 1.17 ± 0.49, Z = 2.37, p = 0.0176). Species abundance was influenced differently by elevation. While P. delectorum decreases with increasing elevation, L. machangui increases with an increase in elevation. Although overall small mammal abundance was not affected by microhabitat variables (Estimate ± SE = −0.08 ± 0.13, Z = −0.67, p = 0.5050), individual species ( P. delectorum and L. machangui ; Estimate ± SE = 0.13 ± 0.06, Z = 1.95, p = 0.05 and −0.31 ± 0.09, Z = 3.34, p = 0.0008 respectively) were affected differently. While P. delectorum abundance showed a positive correlation and increased with an increase in PCA1 in GLM, L. machangui had a negative trend that shows they were affected differently. Small mammal abundance, on the other hand, was affected by season and, in particular, rain, with low abundance during heavy rains and dry cold periods (Estimate ± SE = 0.51 ± 0.14, Z = 3.6, p = 0.0003 and 0.3 ± 0.15, Z = 2.08 p = 0.04 respectively). In general, the results show that microhabitat parameters, elevation, and season influenced small mammals’ abundance in MRFNR. This outcome indicates that altering the microhabitat could have an impact on the small mammal assemblage and particularly their abundance. Thus, microhabitat, elevation, and season influence small mammal abundance and can be used as a proxy for evaluating the biodiversity of montane tropical small mammal communities.

Microhabitat preferences and guild structure of a tropical reptile community from the Western Ghats of India: implications for conservation

AbstractMicrohabitat characteristics can be used as a proxy to predict the community structure of associated organisms and evaluate their vulnerability to habitat degradation. Microhabitat-specific and ectothermic taxa (like many reptiles) are among the best models to study responses to changing habitats and climate. We examined the niche breadth and guild structure of reptiles from Agasthyamalai Hills in the southern Western Ghats of India based on microhabitat use data. We recorded a total of 47 reptile species from 1,554 observations comprising two major orders and 11 families. Niche breadth analysis revealed that 45% of reptiles are microhabitat specialists, indicating the importance of protecting their habitats with all structural attributes. Cluster analysis grouped reptile species into four major guilds based on microhabitat preferences. The forest floor-dwelling guild was the largest group with 25 species, followed by the semi-arboreal guild with 12 species. The floor-dwelling guild also exhibited both the highest number of microhabitat specialists (n = 11) and globally threatened species (n = 3), highlighting the need for preserving ground cover characteristics such as leaf litter, boulders, and open ground for conserving reptiles in the region. Considering the microhabitat specializations within the community, we recommend a dynamic approach to monitor abundance, diversity, and habitat quality across the Agasthyamalai landscape to better conserve its rich reptile diversity.

Novel plant communities after glacial retreat in Colombia: (many) losses and (few) gains

Early plant primary succession in recently deglacierized terrains is a good indicator of the species losses and gains that affect novel alpine plant communities migrating under the pressure of climate warming. In the tropical alpine -páramo- region of the northern Andes, home to the world's greatest alpine phyto-diversity, forced primary succession will condition the conservation of many species. Using a post-glacial chronosequence between the little ice age and present below the Conejeras glacier (Colombia) as a space-for-time substitution approach, we sought to determine how time since deglacierization affects the composition, the biogeographic origin and the growth form distribution of novel tropical alpine plant communities. Using an array of multivariate techniques and the Dirichlet model, we assessed relationships among plant communities and with environmental factors. Communities established in less than 169 years lacked a number of characteristic and endemic species usually found in the national park Los Nevados, such as Calamagrostis effusa, Senecio isabelis and Espeletia hartwegiana. Moreover, these communities have been colonized by non-native species, e.g., Rumex acetosella. Upright shrubs and large tussock grasses, characteristic of the alpine tropics, established slowly because they required highly organic, slow-developing soils. Taxa of tropical biogeographic origin were under-represented early after deglacierization in comparison with temperate taxa. These results suggest the existence of a strong climatic debt for some native species, tropical growth forms and taxa of tropical origin, which may translate into significant taxonomic and functional losses whereas the few observed gains concern the establishment of non-native species.

Consistency of demographic trade‐offs across 13 (sub)tropical forests

Abstract Organisms of all species must balance their allocation to growth, survival and recruitment. Among tree species, evolution has resulted in different life‐history strategies for partitioning resources to these key demographic processes. Life‐history strategies in tropical forests have often been shown to align along a trade‐off between fast growth and high survival, that is, the well‐known fast–slow continuum. In addition, an orthogonal trade‐off has been proposed between tall stature—resulting from fast growth and high survival—and recruitment success, that is, a stature−recruitment trade‐off. However, it is not clear whether these two independent dimensions of life‐history variation structure tropical forests worldwide. We used data from 13 large‐scale and long‐term tropical forest monitoring plots in three continents to explore the principal trade‐offs in annual growth, survival and recruitment as well as tree stature. These forests included relatively undisturbed forests as well as typhoon‐disturbed forests. Life‐history variation in 12 forests was structured by two orthogonal trade‐offs, the growth−survival trade‐off and the stature−recruitment trade‐off. Pairwise Procrustes analysis revealed a high similarity of demographic relationships among forests. The small deviations were related to differences between African and Asian plots. Synthesis. The fast–slow continuum and tree stature are two independent dimensions structuring many, but not all tropical tree communities. Our discovery of the consistency of demographic trade‐offs and life‐history strategies across different forest types from three continents substantially improves our ability to predict tropical forest dynamics worldwide.

Functional dispersion and variation in above-ground traits in tropical dry deciduous forests of Central India.

Plants are adapted to their environment through a suite of anatomical, morphological, and physiological traits. These functional traits are commonly thought to determine the plant’s tolerance to environmental conditions. Functional diversity quantifies diversity of species traits which reflects the kind of species functions and acts as a key driver of ecosystem processes and services. The objective of the present study is to quantify the intraspecific functional distance among species in terms of their traits within two selected tropical dry deciduous forest communities in Central India. Six key functional traits namely, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf size, height, basal area and circumference, were considered for their significant ecological functions. The interspecific functional distances ranged from 2 to 52 in Garpehra forest community while it was 0 to 50 in the Jaruakhera forest community. The average functional distance recorded within two communities were 21.43 and 14.42 respectively. Most similar species pairs were Hollarhena antidysenterica - Aegle marmelos , Hollarhena antidysenterica - Lagerstroemia parviflora, Holoptelea integrifolia- Miliusa tomentosa in the Garpehra forest whereas in Jaruakhera species pairs namely, Madhuca indica – Diospyros melanoxylon , Ficus glomerata - Eugenia heyneana indicates high similarity for functional attributes. Being similar they are most redundant to each other. Few species pairs were highly dissimilar under functional trait space in Garpehra forest namely, Miliusa tomentosa - Sterculia urens , Holoptelea integrifolia – Sterculia urens and Helicteres isora – Boswellia serrata while in Jaruakhera, highly dissimilar species pairs were Ficus religiosa - Ziziphus xylopyrus and Helicteres isora- Ficus religiosa . Being dissimilar, they show complementarity to each other. The study depicts the functional structure of community and the redundant and complementary species pairs for predicting resilience, resistance, invasibility and conservation.

Fire exclusion changes belowground bud bank and bud-bearing organ composition jeopardizing open savanna resilience.

Belowground bud bank regeneration is a successful strategy for plants in fire-prone communities. It depends on the number and location of dormant and viable buds stored on belowground organs. A highly diverse belowground bud-bearing organ system maintained by a frequent interval of fire events guarantees the supply of a bud bank that enables plants to persist and resprout after disturbance. We investigated how different fire exclusion and fire frequencies, affected the herbaceous layer in tropical savannas, by assessing belowground persistence and regeneration traits. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that under a shorter fire exclusion period, the total bud bank increased at a lower fire frequency. But sites at longer fire exclusion and infrequent fire, the bud bank was smaller the longer the period since the last fire. However, the major shift was concerning organ diversity since fire exclusion was more related to loss of belowground diversity rather than decreasing of the belowground bud bank size. Furthermore, fire-associated bud-bearing structures like xylopodia disappeared in the fire suppressed areas, whereas clonal organs, such as rhizomes, developed in the bud bank. By quantifying belowground bud bank traits under different fire histories, we highlight the importance of the local fire regime on the composition of the belowground plant components, which can affect the tropical savanna aboveground plant community. Given that, loss of the belowground bud-bearing component of the plant community will have a direct effect on vegetation regeneration in post-fire environments, and consequently, on plant community resilience.

Selected by the tide: Studying the specificities of a traditional fishing method in mangroves

For centuries, intertidal fishing in mangroves using block nets has been of socio-economic and cultural importance to many tropical fishing communities. However, data characterising these fisheries are scarce, and no study on their selectivity has been conducted. Additionally, assessing the impact of block net fisheries is complex because they target migrant fish species with different life cycles and morphologies in highly dynamic environments. Here, we investigated the catch composition and selectivity of intertidal fishing in northeastern Brazil to discuss how this should be considered for management purposes. We described the spatiotemporal variability of catch composition in four estuaries with distinct physicochemical parameters. We used three model species (Eucinostomus argenteus, Mugil curema, and Centropomus undecimalis) to understand how block net selectivity varied according to fish morphology (body height (BH)) and life cycle (size at first maturity and ontogenetic stages). We found an important spatiotemporal variability in catches that are likely linked to local (geomorphology, precipitation) and seasonal factors (species reproduction). Immature individuals dominated the catch of the three species of interest, confirming that mangroves are a nursery for many migratory species. Moreover, for the first time, we described the S-shaped curve selectivity pattern of block nets, which is unusual for passive nets and prevents the escape of larger individuals, making this gear very efficient to capture a wide range of sizes. We found that comparing length at first catch (Lc) and size at first maturity constituted a simple way to consider fisheries’ interference with the species life cycle. In addition, the body height at Lc was similar between species, making the ratio BH/TL a possible proxy of Lc in a data-poor context. The main concern about block net fisheries is the growth overfishing of long-lived species targeted at the coast. Since mangrove and coastal fisheries explore the same species at different ontogenetic stages, an ecosystem approach to fisheries should be applied to the entire coastal continuum. This approach should involve effort regulation to control the overall fishing pressure, but not mesh size limits that would considerably be detrimental to block net fisheries yield.

Ecological factors driving the feather mite associations in tropical avian hosts

Birds host a diversity of ectosymbionts including feather‐dwelling arthropods such as feather mites and lice that they have co‐evolved and speciated with. Among these ectosymbionts, feather mites have evolved more mutualistic to commensal associations with birds than other groups. However, our understanding of the biological and ecological drivers that shape the associations between avian hosts and feather mites in tropical communities is poor. Thus, to help fill this knowledge gap we investigated the factors that govern feather mite abundances at host community, host species and individual levels in bird communities from different elevations on the tropical island of New Guinea. We examined the effects of abiotic factors, such as temperature and precipitation, the influence of host species, feeding guilds, bill morphology, body region, body conditions and infections with haemosporidian blood parasites on feather mite abundance. We found that feather mites were very prevalent among New Guinean birds and that mite abundance was not significantly different between elevations. Bird species with curved bills experienced significantly lower number of mites compared to species with straight bills. Feather mite abundance was significantly higher on flight feathers than on the rest of the body and mite abundance was not strongly associated with the body condition of individuals in most host species, except for a significant negative relationships in three species. Moreover, we did not find an association between feather mite abundance and blood parasite infections, potentially indicating a non‐synergistic association of these two symbionts. Overall, our study demonstrates that tropical avian‐feather mite associations are driven by different biotic and abiotic factors at host community, species and individual levels, highlighting the importance of examining these associations at both broad and fine scales to thoroughly understand the evolution of these symbioses.

Influence of environmental factors on the tropical peatlands diazotrophic communities from the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest.

The tropical peatlands of southern Brazil are essential for the maintenance of the Atlantic Rain Forest, one of the 25 hotspots of biodiversity in the world. Although diazotrophic micro-organisms are essential for the maintenance of this nitrogen limited ecosystem, so far studies have focused only on micro-organisms involved in the carbon cycle. In this work, peat samples were collected from three tropical peatland regions during dry and rainy seasons and their chemical and microbial characteristics were evaluated. Our results showed that the structure of the diazotrophic communities in the Brazilian tropical peatlands differs in the evaluated seasons. The abundance of the genus Bradyrhizobium showed to be affected by rainfall and peat pH. Despite the shifts of the nitrogen-fixing population in the tropical peatland caused by seasonality it showed to be constantly dominated by α-Proteobacteria followed by Cyanobacteria. In addition, more than 50% of nifH gene sequences have not been classified, indicating the necessity for more studies in tropical peatland, since the reduction of N supply in the peatlands stimulates the recalcitrant organic matter decomposition performed by peatland micro-organisms, influencing the C stock.

Tropical ant community responses to experimental soil warming.

Climate change is one of the primary agents of the global decline in insect abundance. Because of their narrow thermal ranges, tropical ectotherms are predicted to be most threatened by global warming, yet tests of this prediction are often confounded by other anthropogenic disturbances. We used a tropical forest soil warming experiment to directly test the effect of temperature increase on litter-dwelling ants. Two years of continuous warming led to a change in ant community between warming and control plots. Specifically, six ant genera were recorded only on warming plots, and one genus only on control plots. Wasmannia auropuctata, a species often invasive elsewhere but native to this forest, was more abundant in warmed plots. Ant recruitment at baits was best predicted by soil surface temperature and ant heat tolerance. These results suggest that heat tolerance is useful for predicting changes in daily foraging activity, which is directly tied to colony fitness. We show that a 2-year increase in temperature (of 2-4°C) can have a profound effect on the most abundant insects, potentially favouring species with invasive traits and moderate heat tolerances.

More winners than losers over 12 years of monitoring tiger moths (Erebidae: Arctiinae) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.

Understanding the causes and consequences of insect declines has become an important goal in ecology, particularly in the tropics, where most terrestrial diversity exists. Over the past 12 years, the ForestGEO Arthropod Initiative has systematically monitored multiple insect groups on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, providing baseline data for assessing long-term population trends. Here, we estimate the rates of change in abundance among 96 tiger moth species on BCI. Population trends of most species were stable (n = 20) or increasing (n = 62), with few (n = 14) declining species. Our analysis of morphological and climatic sensitivity traits associated with population trends shows that species-specific responses to climate were most strongly linked with trends. Specifically, tiger moth species that are more abundant in warmer and wetter years are more likely to show population increases. Our study contrasts with recent findings indicating insect decline in tropical and temperate regions. These results highlight the significant role of biotic responses to climate in determining long-term population trends and suggest that future climate changes are likely to impact tropical insect communities.

Is elevation a strong environmental filter? Combining taxonomy, functional traits and phylogeny of butterflies in a tropical mountain

AbstractEnvironmental filters select species that tolerate and respond to habitat conditions similarly. By combining taxonomy, functional traits and phylogeny, we aimed to understand the spatial distribution of a tropical butterfly community, evaluating whether elevation acts as an environmental filter strong enough to select flight‐related traits.Frugivorous and nectarivorous butterflies were sampled with nets at seven altitudinal bands (800–1400 m) in four sampling periods. We tested seven flight‐related traits (wing length, width, and area; thorax volume; wing:thorax ratio [WTR]length, WTRwidthand WTRarea) and incorporated the effects of phylogeny in the relationships among these traits and with elevation.Butterfly diversity decreased with increased elevation, and four traits exhibited larger values at higher elevations: wing length, width, area and WTRarea.This suggests that butterflies tended to have smaller wings and robust bodies at lower elevations, and larger wings with slender bodies at higher elevations, possibly related to flight speed or wind conditions. Although the phylogenetic relatedness did not exert significant weight in the traits and elevation, we found indication of phylogenetic conservatism of wing area and WTR.Butterflies in mountains experience a strong selection by several environmental filters related to flight performance, and our study demonstrated a robust relationship between elevation, flight‐related traits and species distribution. These relationships occurred regardless of phylogenetic relatedness, but most traits are conserved and exhibit resemblance in the phylogenetic lineages of these species. These findings suggest an influence of a widespread filter promoted by the elevational gradient with convergent trait evolution.

Myocarditis and severe neuromuscular paralysis following a suspected Common krait (<em>Bungarus caeruleus</em>) envenoming in a child: A case report

The AMJ is a peer-reviewed, triannual health journal published by Anuradhapura Clinical Society (ACS).The Journal strives to be a forum for all health professionals to publish original research and review articles in their area of expertise. The AMJ publishes articles in clinical medicine, public health and health promotion. Our priority is given to manuscripts on health related issues which affects the communities living in rural tropical communities. Established as a journal in 2006 as a publication parallel to ACS annual scientific sessions, the journal was relaunched as a proper journal in 2013. Anuradhapura Medical Journal is a member of COPE and is included on DOAJ.