Effect of climate change on four species of Azteca in Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

• Main Author: Mazzei, Paul
• Format: Text
• Language: English; Spanish
• Published: Digital Commons @ University of South Florida 2003
• Subjects: Azteca (Insects); Climatic changes > Environmental aspects; CIEE Fall 2003; Arctic; Climate change; Global warming
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/tropical_ecology/142; https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/context/tropical_ecology/article/1141/viewcontent/M39_00165_Dappen_Nathan_Microhabitat_use_escape_behavior_Norops_oxylophus_CIEE_Fall_2003.pdf

There has been extensive, research in the Monteverde area that has shown that both the abundance and range of lizards, amphibians, and birds have been affected global warming (Pounds (1999). Although there have been studies showing changes in abundance of arctic and temperate invertebrates, there have not been any studies that have shown invertebrate response to climate change in Monteverde. The four species of Azteca ants (xanthochroa, constructor, coeruleipennis, and alfari) were collected along roads in Monteverde and nearby Santa Elena and San Luis at elevations ranging from 700-1500m. The altitudinal ranges from this study were compared to ranges obtained by Longino in 1985 to determine if these four species have shifted upward in elevation (Longino 1989). A one way analysis of variance compared the elevations of the four species to one another and found that all four were statistically different in the elevations that they occupy except for A. xanthochroa and A. constructor which are both high elevation species. This data agrees with previous research by Longino that has shown that these four species occupy different altitudinal bands. A. coeruleipennis was shown to be a strictly low elevation species and A. alfari occupies low to mid-elevations. When the mean values for elevation from this study were compared with Longino’s 1985 mean elevations using a one sample t-test A. xanthochroa and A. constructor the results were significantly different (P = .0033 and P = .0342 respectively). The mean values for A. alfari were not statistically significant (P = .1462) in the one sample t-test, but this is most likely due to small size in comparison to Longino’s findings. In conclusion three of the four species of Azteca that were studied showed evidence of an upward shift in elevation. When interpreted in conjunction with the previous studies on lizards, amphibians and birds, the upward shift in range of Azteca spp. provides even more evidence that global warming is having a dramatic effect on altitudinal ...