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Warmer environments harbor greater thermal trait diversity in moth assemblages
Ming Liu1,2, Tzu-Man Hung1,3,4, Shipher Wu1,5
1Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Nature Communications
|December 11, 2025
Summary
Warmer climates support more diverse thermal strategies in moth assemblages, driven by mean temperature, not variability. This finding is key for predicting biodiversity responses to climate change.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Climate Change Science
Background:
- Thermal trait diversity is crucial for predicting species' responses to climate change.
- Ecological drivers of thermal trait diversity in species assemblages are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how temperature regimes influence the thermal strategies of moth assemblages.
- To test the climatic variability hypothesis regarding trait generalization in stable climates.
Main Methods:
- Eco-evolutionary simulations were employed.
- Empirical data from 653 moth species across Asian elevational gradients were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Warmer environments support larger hypervolumes, indicating a broader range of coexisting thermal strategies.
- Assemblage-level diversity increased in warmer sites, despite individual species maintaining narrow thermal tolerances.
- Mean temperature, rather than temperature variability, was identified as the primary factor structuring thermal trait diversity.
Conclusions:
- Mean temperature is the dominant driver of thermal trait diversity in species assemblages.
- Understanding how thermal strategies assemble under different climatic conditions provides a basis for predicting biodiversity responses to warming.
- Low-elevation ecosystems hold significant conservation value due to their role in supporting thermal trait diversity.
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