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Turning Up The Heat On The Little Things That Run The World: Evaluating The Impacts Of Climate Change On Ant Biodiversity In The Temperate Forest Communities Of The Northeastern United States, Israel Del Toro
Doctoral Dissertations
Climatic change threatens biodiversity worldwide. In the forests of the northeastern United States, climate change is expected to increase mean annual temperatures by up to 4.5˚C and change precipitation seasonality. These changes in climate are likely to have impacts on the biodiversity of the region. In order to better understand the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, I used ants, an indicator taxonomic group, to predict how ant communities and ant-mediated ecosystem processes change as the climate warms. In the first chapter of this dissertation, I review the major ecosystem processes and services mediated by ants using the Millennium Ecosystem …