Tropical biodiversity is undergoing unprecedented changes due to the hydrological cycle intensification, characterized by more intense droughts and wet seasons. This raises concerns about the resilience of animal and plant communities to such extremes and the existence of potential refugia—areas theorized to safeguard biological communities from adverse climate impacts. Over 20 years of monitoring in Central Amazonia, we investigated the short‐term and long‐term effects of hydrological cycle intensification on bird, fish, ant, and palm communities. We explored whether the ‘insurance effect’ of climate trends (droughts buffered by preceded wet seasons) or ‘environmental refugia’ (droughts or floods buffered by topographic features) could lessen the impact of climate events on community composition, richness, evenness, and species rank. Pronounced abundance changes were observed among animal species, whereas palm species showed relative temporal stability. Birds and fish were more affected by the immediate and long‐term severity of droughts and wet periods, while ants responded primarily to short‐term drought impacts. Conversely, palm communities exhibited delayed responses to climate extremes, primarily in long‐term comparisons. As expected, the proposed ‘insurance effect’ mitigates the long‐term impacts of extreme climate events on animal and plant community trends. However, less extreme hydrological conditions linked to topographic features did not provide effective ‘environmental refugia’ for animals or plants during adverse climate conditions. These outcomes underscore the complex and varied biological responses to ongoing climate change, challenging the prevailing assumptions about the efficacy of environmental refugia and highlighting the nuanced resilience of biodiversity in Central Amazonia.

中文翻译：

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亚马逊森林中多分类群对气候变化的响应


由于水文循环的加剧，热带生物多样性正在发生前所未有的变化，其特点是更严重的干旱和雨季。这引发了人们对动植物群落对这种极端天气的适应能力以及潜在避难所的存在的担忧——这些区域理论上可以保护生物群落免受不利的气候影响。在亚马逊中部 20 多年的监测中，我们调查了水文循环强化对鸟类、鱼类、蚂蚁和棕榈群落的短期和长期影响。我们探讨了气候趋势（干旱由之前的雨季缓冲）或“环境避难所”（干旱或洪水由地形特征缓冲）的“保险效应”是否可以减轻气候事件对群落组成、丰富度、均匀度和物种等级的影响。在动物物种中观察到明显的丰度变化，而棕榈物种表现出相对的时间稳定性。鸟类和鱼类受干旱和潮湿期的短期和长期严重性的影响更大，而蚂蚁主要对短期干旱影响做出反应。相反，棕榈树群落对极端气候的反应延迟，主要是在长期比较中。正如预期的那样，拟议的“保险效应”减轻了极端气候事件对动植物群落趋势的长期影响。然而，在恶劣的气候条件下，与地形特征相关的不太极端的水文条件并不能为动物或植物提供有效的“环境避难所”。 这些结果强调了生物对持续气候变化的复杂多样的反应，挑战了关于环境避难所有效性的普遍假设，并突出了亚马逊中部生物多样性的微妙复原力。