{"title":"Latitude shapes diel patterns in insect biodiversity.","authors":"Mark K L Wong","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0622","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The writings of naturalists from two centuries past are brimming with accounts of the stark differences in the kinds and numbers of organisms encountered during the day and night as well as between the tropical and temperate zones. However, only recently have ecologists begun to systematically explore the geographic variation in the diel activity patterns of species on Earth. Examining data from 60 insect communities distributed globally, I find that the proportion of nocturnal species in a community declines from a peak of 36% at the equator to 8% at 60° latitude, while the proportion of diurnal species shows no significant trend. By contrast, the proportion of cathemeral (day- and night-active) species in a community increases poleward from 18% to 68% along the same gradient. These latitudinal trends in the partitioning of diel activity time among co-occurring insect species in communities broadly reflect previously documented biogeographic patterns in the global distributions of vertebrate species occupying different temporal niches. Since diel activity patterns shape insect community dynamics, uncovering their mechanistic basis and the roles of factors such as temperature, light and biotic interactions is vital for curbing insect declines in the Anthropocene.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240622"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12040444/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biology Letters","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0622","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/4/30 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The writings of naturalists from two centuries past are brimming with accounts of the stark differences in the kinds and numbers of organisms encountered during the day and night as well as between the tropical and temperate zones. However, only recently have ecologists begun to systematically explore the geographic variation in the diel activity patterns of species on Earth. Examining data from 60 insect communities distributed globally, I find that the proportion of nocturnal species in a community declines from a peak of 36% at the equator to 8% at 60° latitude, while the proportion of diurnal species shows no significant trend. By contrast, the proportion of cathemeral (day- and night-active) species in a community increases poleward from 18% to 68% along the same gradient. These latitudinal trends in the partitioning of diel activity time among co-occurring insect species in communities broadly reflect previously documented biogeographic patterns in the global distributions of vertebrate species occupying different temporal niches. Since diel activity patterns shape insect community dynamics, uncovering their mechanistic basis and the roles of factors such as temperature, light and biotic interactions is vital for curbing insect declines in the Anthropocene.
期刊介绍:
Previously a supplement to Proceedings B, and launched as an independent journal in 2005, Biology Letters is a primarily online, peer-reviewed journal that publishes short, high-quality articles, reviews and opinion pieces from across the biological sciences. The scope of Biology Letters is vast - publishing high-quality research in any area of the biological sciences. However, we have particular strengths in the biology, evolution and ecology of whole organisms. We also publish in other areas of biology, such as molecular ecology and evolution, environmental science, and phylogenetics.