title: Climate mediates the effects of disturbance on ant assemblage structure.
abstract: Many studies have focused on the impacts of climate change on biological assemblages, yet little is known about how climate interacts with other major anthropogenic influences on biodiversity, such as habitat disturbance. Using a unique global database of 1128 local ant assemblages, we examined whether climate mediates the effects of habitat disturbance on assemblage structure at a global scale. Species richness and evenness were associated positively with temperature, and negatively with disturbance. However, the interaction among temperature, precipitation and disturbance shaped species richness and evenness. The effect was manifested through a failure of species richness to increase substantially with temperature in transformed habitats at low precipitation. At low precipitation levels, evenness increased with temperature in undisturbed sites, peaked at medium temperatures in disturbed sites and remained low in transformed sites. In warmer climates with lower rainfall, the effects of increasing disturbance on species richness and evenness were akin to decreases in temperature of up to 9°C. Anthropogenic disturbance and ongoing climate change may interact in complicated ways to shape the structure of assemblages, with hot, arid environments likely to be at greatest risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and the Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia h.gibb@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: Heloise
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gibb
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 569 Dabney Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen Ø 2100, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nathan J
authors.initials: NJ
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617, USA.
authors.forename: Robert R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and the Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Simon
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authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and the Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Manoli
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authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus s/n, Girona 17071, Spain.
authors.forename: Silvia
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authors.affiliation: CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre, PMB 44 Winnellie, Northern Territory 0822, Australia.
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authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, Dpt. Etología y Conservación de la Biodiversidad, Avda. Americo Vespucio s/n (Isla de la Cartuja), Sevilla 41092, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
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authors.lastname: Angulo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Universidad del Valle (Colombia), Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia.
authors.forename: Inge
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authors.affiliation: CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalunya 08193, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
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authors.forename: Fabricio B
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authors.affiliation: Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.
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authors.initials: TR
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authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, Parma 43124, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01366, USA.
authors.forename: Israel
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authors.affiliation: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Section of Biological Evaluation, Rue Vautier, 29, Brussels 1000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Thibaut
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authors.lastname: Delsinne
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus s/n, Girona 17071, Spain.
authors.forename: Mireia
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authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto, CP 1101608, Loja, Ecuador.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus s/n, Girona 17071, Spain.
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authors.initials: ML
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authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia and Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of Academy of Sciences Czech Republic, Branišovská 31, České Budějovice 370 05, Czech Republic Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK.
authors.forename: Tom M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Fayle
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 S 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
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authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Feener
authors.affiliation: Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Centre for Environmental Science, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus s/n, Girona 17071, Spain.
authors.forename: Crisanto
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authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, Parma 43124, Italy.
authors.forename: Donato A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) Rua Ceara, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais 38400-902, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Groc
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.
authors.forename: Brian
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authors.affiliation: CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre, PMB 44 Winnellie, Northern Territory 0822, Australia.
authors.forename: Benjamin D
authors.initials: BD
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authors.affiliation: Centre for Tropical Biology and Climate Change, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia.
authors.forename: Lori
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authors.affiliation: Museo Inst. Zoologia Agricola, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 4579, Maracay 2101-A, Venezuela.
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authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors.forename: John
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authors.affiliation: Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, 970 Natural Area Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.
authors.forename: Jonathan
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authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, Parma 43124, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
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authors.affiliation: Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Ecology and Resource Management, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa.
authors.forename: Thinandavha C
authors.initials: TC
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Ecology and Cell Biology, TiHo Hannover, Bünteweg 17d, Hannover 30559, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 S 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica
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authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, National University of Mongolia, Baga toiruu 47, PO Box 377, Ulaanbaatar 210646, Mongolia.
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authors.affiliation: Environmental Studies Department, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA.
authors.forename: Stacy M
authors.initials: SM
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authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Amazônicas-INPA, Coordenação de Biodiversidade-Cbio, Avenida André Araújo, 2936-Caixa Postal 2223, CEP 69080-971, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Tropical Ecology and Animal Biodiversity, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, Vienna 1030, Austria.
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authors.initials: HL
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authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5020, USA.
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mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D013696:Temperature
keywords: assemblage structure; dominance; global warming; probability of interspecific encounter; species evenness