Myrmecol. News 32: 127-138

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_032:127
  • Open Access: CC BY 4.0
  • Author: Willot, Q., Ørsted, M., Damsgaard, C. & Overgaard, J.
  • Year: 2022
  • Title: Thermal-death-time model as a tool to analyze heat tolerance, acclimation, and biogeography in ants
  • Journal: Myrmecological News
  • Pages: 127-138
  • Type of contribution: Original Article
  • Supplementary material: Yes
  • Abstract: The thermal-death-time (TDT) model has proven highly consistent in describing upper thermal limits in ectotherms through space and time. TDT model parameterization could thus yield new insights into the associations between heat tolerance, acclimation strategies, and species distribution in a range of animal models, including ants. In this study, we first demonstrate that TDT parameterization represents a strong conceptual model to describe upper thermal limits in a multispecies comparison of European ant species. In addition to accurately predicting heat tolerance from dynamic and static assays, TDT models further provide species-specific coefficients of thermal sensitivity (z) that are largely uncorrelated with absolute thermal limits. Second, using these validated parameters, we show that neither heat tolerance nor coefficients of heat sensitivity are responsive to adult acclimation and, using a recently released database of soil temperatures, show that soil surface temperatures are poor predictors of species’ heat tolerance. These results highlight that TDT models offer strong conceptual advantages to unify heat-tolerance metrics resulting from various methodologies, but also that most of the interspecific information on heat tolerance is already captured in the simpler, more commonly used dynamic assays. In addition, the lack of clear association between thermal limits, thermal sensitivity, and ground temperatures lends further support to the suggestion that the evolution of heat tolerance in ants is driven by temperature variations at the microclimatic scale, behavior, and phylogenetic history.
  • Key words: Hymenoptera, Formicidae, heat tolerance, CTmax, acclimation, biogeography, phylogeny, thermal sensitivity.
  • Publisher: The Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics
  • ISSN: 1997-3500
  • Check out the accompanying blog contribution: https://blog.myrmecologicalnews.org/2022/09/14/one-model-to-rule-them-all-thermal-death-time-model-reconciles-heat-tolerance-measurements-in-ants/

Myrmecol. News 32: 127-138, Supplement

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_032:127
  • Open Access: CC BY 4.0
  • Author: Willot, Q., Ørsted, M., Damsgaard, C. & Overgaard, J.
  • Year: 2022
  • Title: Thermal-death-time model as a tool to analyze heat tolerance, acclimation, and biogeography in ants
  • Journal: Myrmecological News
  • Pages: 127-138
  • Type of contribution: Original Article
  • Supplementary material: Yes
  • Abstract: The thermal-death-time (TDT) model has proven highly consistent in describing upper thermal limits in ectotherms through space and time. TDT model parameterization could thus yield new insights into the associations between heat tolerance, acclimation strategies, and species distribution in a range of animal models, including ants. In this study, we first demonstrate that TDT parameterization represents a strong conceptual model to describe upper thermal limits in a multispecies comparison of European ant species. In addition to accurately predicting heat tolerance from dynamic and static assays, TDT models further provide species-specific coefficients of thermal sensitivity (z) that are largely uncorrelated with absolute thermal limits. Second, using these validated parameters, we show that neither heat tolerance nor coefficients of heat sensitivity are responsive to adult acclimation and, using a recently released database of soil temperatures, show that soil surface temperatures are poor predictors of species’ heat tolerance. These results highlight that TDT models offer strong conceptual advantages to unify heat-tolerance metrics resulting from various methodologies, but also that most of the interspecific information on heat tolerance is already captured in the simpler, more commonly used dynamic assays. In addition, the lack of clear association between thermal limits, thermal sensitivity, and ground temperatures lends further support to the suggestion that the evolution of heat tolerance in ants is driven by temperature variations at the microclimatic scale, behavior, and phylogenetic history.
  • Key words: Hymenoptera, Formicidae, heat tolerance, CTmax, acclimation, biogeography, phylogeny, thermal sensitivity.
  • Publisher: The Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics
  • ISSN: 1997-3500
  • Check out the accompanying blog contribution: https://blog.myrmecologicalnews.org/2022/09/14/one-model-to-rule-them-all-thermal-death-time-model-reconciles-heat-tolerance-measurements-in-ants/