Reduced thermal variability in cities and its impact on honey bee thermal tolerance.

ABSTRACT: Urbanization is one of the most significant land cover transformations, and while climate alteration is one of its most cited ecological consequences we have very limited knowledge on its effect on species' thermal responses. We investigated whether changes in environmental thermal variability caused by urbanization influence thermal tolerance in honey bees (Apis mellifera) in a semi-arid city in central Mexico. Ambient environmental temperature and honey bee thermal tolerance were compared in urban and rural sites. Ambient temperature variability decreased with urbanization due to significantly higher nighttime temperatures in urban compared to rural sites and not from differences in maximum daily temperatures. Honey bee thermal tolerance breadth [critical thermal maxima (CT_ma

SUBMITTER: Sanchez-Echeverria K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6557256 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature