Previous macroecological studies have suggested that larger and darker insects are favored in cold environments and that the importance of body size and color for the absorption of solar radiation is not limited to diurnal insects. However, whether these effects hold true for local communities and are consistent across taxonomic groups and sampling years remains unexplored. This study examined the variations in body size and color lightness of the two major families of nocturnal moths, Geometridae and Noctuidae, along an elevational gradient of 700 m in Southern Germany. An assemblage-based analysis was performed using community-weighted means and a fourth-corner analysis to test for variations in color and body size among communities as a function of elevation. This was followed by a species-level analysis to test whether species occurrence and abundance along an elevation gradient were related to these traits, after controlling for host plant availability. In both 2007 and 2016, noctuid moth assemblages became larger and darker with increasing elevation, whereas geometrids showed an opposite trend in terms of color lightness and no clear trend in body size. In single species models, the abundance of geometrids, but not of noctuids, was driven by habitat availability. In turn, the abundance of dark-colored noctuids, but not geometrids increased with elevation. While body size and color lightness affect insect physiology and the ability to cope with harsh conditions, divergent trait–environment relationships between both families underline that findings of coarse-scale studies are not necessarily transferable to finer scales. Local abundance and occurrence of noctuids are shaped by morphological traits, whereas that of geometrids are rather shaped by local habitat availability, which can modify their trait–environment-relationship. We discuss potential explanations such as taxon-specific flight characteristics and the effect of microclimatic conditions.

中文翻译：

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Noctuid 和 geometrid 蛾组合在体型和颜色亮度方面显示出不同的海拔梯度

先前的宏观生态学研究表明，较大和较暗的昆虫在寒冷的环境中更受欢迎，而且体型和颜色对吸收太阳辐射的重要性不仅限于昼夜昆虫。然而，这些影响是否适用于当地社区，并且在不同分类群和采样年份之间是否一致仍有待探索。这项研究调查了两个主要的夜行蛾科，地蛾科和夜蛾科，在德国南部沿 700 m 的海拔梯度的体型和颜色亮度的变化。使用社区加权平均值和第四角分析进行基于组合的分析，以测试社区之间作为海拔函数的颜色和体型变化。随后进行物种水平分析，以测试在控制寄主植物可用性后，沿海拔梯度的物种发生率和丰度是否与这些性状有关。在 2007 和 2016 年，夜蛾组合随着海拔的增加而变得更大更暗，而几何蛾在颜色亮度方面表现出相反的趋势，并且体型没有明显的趋势。在单一物种模型中，尺蠖类的丰度是由栖息地可用性驱动的，而夜蛾类则不然。反过来，深色夜蛾的丰度随着海拔的升高而增加，而不是几何星形。虽然体型和颜色亮度会影响昆虫生理和应对恶劣条件的能力，两个家庭之间不同的特征-环境关系强调粗尺度研究的结果不一定可以转移到更细尺度。夜蛾类的局部丰度和发生率受形态特征的影响，而尺蠖类的丰度和发生率则受当地栖息地可用性的影响，这可以改变它们的性状-环境-关系。我们讨论了潜在的解释，例如特定于分类群的飞行特征和小气候条件的影响。