  Realistic model Hamiltonians for quantum spin liquids frequently exhibit a
large separation of energy scales between their elementary excitations. At
intermediate, experimentally relevant temperatures, some excitations are sparse
and hop coherently, whereas others are thermally incoherent and dense. Here we
study the interplay of two such species of quasiparticle, dubbed spinons and
visons, which are subject to nontrivial mutual statistics -- one of the
hallmarks of quantum spin liquid behaviour. Our results for $\mathbb{Z}_2$
quantum spin liquids show an intriguing feedback mechanism, akin to the Nagaoka
effect, whereby spinons become localised on temperature-dependent patches of
expelled visons. This phenomenon has important consequences for the
thermodynamic and transport properties of the system, as well as for its
response to quenches in temperature. We argue that these effects can be
measured in experiments and may provide viable avenues for obtaining signatures
of quantum spin liquid behaviour.
