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Warmer mid-day temperatures increase leaf intake by increasing forager speed and success in Atta colombica during the rainy season

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Abstract

Predicting the effects of climatic warming on social insects remains an important challenge. While warming is known to speed many rate processes, the acute effects of temperature on performance under field conditions remain poorly studied. The effects of temperature are usually nonlinear, and tropical animals have been predicted to be particularly likely to be negatively affected by global warming as they may have optimal temperatures that are close to current ambient temperatures. We observed three different A. colombica colonies three times per day (two times during daylight hours and one time at night) during June 2018 in Gamboa, Panama, measuring air temperature, ant traffic, intake of leaves per second, and ant walking speeds. We found that ant walking speed and intake of leaves increased at higher temperatures. Leaves carried per ant also increased with temperature, suggesting that warmer temperatures improve leaf-handling rates, at least over the thermal range studied here. However, there was also an independent effect of time of day, with higher foraging in the morning than the evening, despite similar air temperatures. Consistent with the positive effect of temperature on foraging rates, critical thermal maxima were well above ground temperatures. At least during the rainy season, our data suggest that moderate warming could enhance foraging success and herbivory of leafcutting ants in semi-deciduous moist forests throughout much of the day.

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Data availability

Data sets used in this study are archived at the Dryad Digital Repository (see Electronic supplementary material).

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Acknowledgements

Permits for this work were issued by the Panamanian Ministry of the Environment (MIAMBIANTE) and by the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) to KMB. Funding for this work was provided by the Arizona State University Study Abroad Office to JFH, and the Organization for Tropical Studies Tyson Research Fellowship to KMB. Special thanks to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for use of their facilities.

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  1. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    L. E. Welch, K. M. Baudier & J. F. Harrison

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  1. L. E. Welch
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  2. K. M. Baudier
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  3. J. F. Harrison
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Correspondence to L. E. Welch.

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Welch, L.E., Baudier, K.M. & Harrison, J.F. Warmer mid-day temperatures increase leaf intake by increasing forager speed and success in Atta colombica during the rainy season. Insect. Soc. 67, 213–219 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-020-00749-6

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