Montejo-Kovacevich, G., Martin, S.H., Meier, J.I. et al. (4 more authors) (2020) Microclimate buffering and thermal tolerance across elevations in a tropical butterfly. Journal of Experimental Biology, 223 (8). jeb220426. ISSN 0022-0949
Abstract
Microclimatic variability in tropical forests plays a key role in shaping species distributions and their ability to cope with environmental change, especially for ectotherms. Nonetheless, currently available climatic datasets lack data from the forest interior and, furthermore, our knowledge of thermal tolerance among tropical ectotherms is limited. We therefore studied natural variation in the microclimate experienced by tropical butterflies in the genus Heliconius across their Andean range in a single year. We found that the forest strongly buffers temperature and humidity in the understory, especially in the lowlands where temperatures are more extreme. There were systematic differences between our yearly records and macroclimate databases (WorldClim2), with lower interpolated minimum temperatures and maximum temperatures higher than expected. We then assessed thermal tolerance of ten Heliconius butterfly species in the wild and showed that populations at high elevations had significantly lower heat tolerance than those at lower elevations. However, when we reared populations of the widespread H. erato from high and low elevations in a common-garden environment, the difference in heat tolerance across elevations was reduced, indicating plasticity in this trait. Microclimate buffering is not currently captured in publicly available datasets but could be crucial for enabling upland shifting of species sensitive to heat such as highland Heliconius. Plasticity in thermal tolerance may alleviate the effects of global warming on some widespread ectotherm species, but more research is needed to understand the long-term consequences of plasticity on populations and species.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Animal and Plant Sciences (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL NE/R010331/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2020 11:47 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jul 2021 09:48 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | The Company of Biologists |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1242/jeb.220426 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:158394 |