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Tropical butterflies use thermal buffering and thermal tolerance as alternative strategies to cope with temperature increase
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  • Esme Ashe-Jepson,
  • Stephany Arizala Cobo,
  • Yves Basset,
  • Andrew J. Bladon,
  • Irena Kleckova,
  • Benita C. Laird-Hopkins,
  • Alex Mcfarlane,
  • Katerina Sam,
  • Amanda F. Savage,
  • Ana Cecilia Zamora,
  • Edgar C. Turner,
  • Greg P.A. Lamarre
Esme Ashe-Jepson
Cambridge University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Stephany Arizala Cobo
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
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Yves Basset
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
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Andrew J. Bladon
Cambridge University
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Irena Kleckova
Institute of Entomology Biology Centre Czech Academy of Sciences
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Benita C. Laird-Hopkins
Institute of Entomology Biology Centre Czech Academy of Sciences
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Alex Mcfarlane
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
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Katerina Sam
University of South Bohemia and Institute of Entomology
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Amanda F. Savage
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
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Ana Cecilia Zamora
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
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Edgar C. Turner
Cambridge University
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Greg P.A. Lamarre
Biology Centre Czech Academy of Sciences
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Abstract

Climate change poses a severe threat to many taxa, with increased mean temperatures and frequency of extreme weather events predicted. Insects respond to non-optimal temperatures using behaviours or local microclimates to thermoregulate (thermal buffering ability), or through physiological tolerance. We studied the thermal buffering ability and thermal tolerance of a community of 54 butterfly species in Panama. Thermal buffering ability and tolerance were influenced by family, size, and colour, with Pieridae, large, and dark butterflies having the strongest thermal buffering ability, and with Hesperiidae, small, and dark butterflies tolerating the highest temperatures. We identified an interaction between thermal buffering ability and physiological tolerance, where species with stronger thermal buffering abilities had lower thermal tolerance, and vice versa. This interaction implies that most species will be vulnerable to climate change to an extent, considering that species appear to adapt to one strategy at the expense of the other.