Leaf-cutting ants' critical and voluntary thermal limits show complex responses to size, heating rates, hydration level, and humidity.

ABSTRACT: Thermal variation has complex effects on organisms and they respond to these effects through combined behavioral and physiological mechanisms. However, it is less clear how these traits combine in response to changes in body condition (e.g., size, hydration) and environmental factors that surround the heating process (e.g., relative humidity, start temperatures, heating rates). We tested whether these body conditions and environmental factors influence sequentially measured Voluntary Thermal Maxima (VT_max) and Critical Thermal Maxima, (CT_max) in leaf-cutting ants (Atta sexdens rubropilosa, Forel, 1908). VT_max and CT_max reacted differently to changes in body size and relative humidity, but exhibited similar responses to hydration level, start temp

SUBMITTER: Lima C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8894219 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature