Biogeographic position and body size jointly set lower thermal limits of wandering spiders

Abstract

The ability of a species to cope with variations in abiotic conditions influences its distribution range (Gaston, 2003). Abiotic factors, and among them temperature, shape the geographic range of ectotherm species, and this is even more relevant in the context of global warming (Addo-Bediako et al., 2000;Somero, 2012). Some ectotherms survive extracellular freezing of their body fluids and are thus freezing tolerant, whereas most ectotherms are freezing intolerant.Instead of having high supercooling abilities (i.e., low supercooling point, SCP), freezing tolerant species, like some alpine species, tend to freeze at relatively high subzero temperatures, a phenomenon that occurs thanks to the synthesis ice nucleators and cryoprotectants that respectively induce and protect against freezing stress

Variation in abundance and life-history traits of two congeneric Arctic wolf spider species, Pardosa hyperborea and Pardosa furcifera, along local environmental gradients

“…Body size is certainly the most studied trait (e.g. Mammola et al 2019;Koltz and Wright 2020;Monsimet et al 2021) because it affects nearly all aspects of an organism (Kingsolver and Huey 2008) and reflects the conditions experienced during the development (Ameline et al 2018). The wellknown Bergmann's rule was developed to explain spatial variation in body size of individuals across latitudinal and altitudinal gradients (e.g.…”