Calculating Climate Effects on Birds and Mammals: Impacts on Biodiversity, Conservation, Population Parameters, and Global Community Structure

Porter, Warren P.; Budaraju, Srinivas; Stewart, W. D. P.; Ramankutty, Navin

doi:10.1093/icb/40.4.597

Cited by 115 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…S2). More detailed, computationally intensive approaches can be applied in more complex environmental settings (15,38,39).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We have shown how it is possible to calculate the consequences of variation in both environments and functional traits for key aspects of an endotherm's fundamental niche such as the location of the TNZ. When data are available on food availability, feeding rates, and digestive capabilities, one can ask more detailed questions about energy and water balance (39,(41)(42)(43). When combined with spatially explicit estimates of environmental conditions, biophysical models provide the opportunity for studying clinal patterns in functional traits such as body size and shape, pelage, color (solar reflectance) and core temperature, and constraints on distribution and abundance (44).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Size, shape, and the thermal niche of endotherms

Porter

Kearney

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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A key challenge in ecology is to define species' niches on the basis of functional traits. Size and shape are important determinants of a species' niche but their causal role is often difficult to interpret. For endotherms, size and shape define the thermal niche through their interaction with core temperature, insulation, and environmental conditions, determining the thermoneutral zone (TNZ) where energy and water costs are minimized. Laboratory measures of metabolic rate used to describe TNZs cannot be generalized to infer the capacity for terrestrial animals to find their TNZ in complex natural environments. Here, we derive an analytical model of the thermal niche of an ellipsoid furred endotherm that accurately predicts field and laboratory data. We use the model to illustrate the relative importance of size and shape on the location of the TNZ under different environmental conditions. The interaction between body shape and posture strongly influences the location of the TNZ and the expected scaling of metabolic rate with size at constant temperature. We demonstrate that the latter relationship has a slope of approximately 1 ⁄2 rather than the commonly expected surface area/volume scaling of 2 ⁄3. We show how such functional traits models can be integrated with spatial environmental datasets to calculate null expectations for body size clines from a thermal perspective, aiding mechanistic interpretation of empirical clines such as Bergmann's Rule. The combination of spatially explicit data with biophysical models of heat exchange provides a powerful means for studying the thermal niches of endotherms across climatic gradients.biophysical ecology ͉ functional traits ͉ lower critical temperature ͉ metabolic scaling ͉ thermoneutral zone T he ecological niche reflects the interaction between an organism and its environment and how that interaction affects its fitness (1, 2). An understanding of a species' niche requires knowledge of its traits (morphology, physiology, and behavior) and how that species interacts with its habitat to construct environments (2). This two-way interaction between organism and environment is also key to understanding how a species' traits, and hence its niche, evolves (3, 4). A species' energy and water balance are key determinants of its niche, reflecting both its requirements for life (Grinnellian niche) and its impact on the other species with which it interacts (Eltonian niche). Here, we illustrate how biophysical principles can be used to link variation in the size, shape, and other functional traits of organisms with environmental data to predict the thermal niches of endotherms. Such a model can be conceived as a mechanistic depiction of the Hutchinsonian niche, a hypervolume describing conditions suitable for survival, growth, and reproduction along trait and environmental axes. Biophysical models provide a way to calculate spatially explicit null models of selective pressures on functional traits from the perspectives of energy and water conservation (5).Basal metabolic rate ...

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“…S2). More detailed, computationally intensive approaches can be applied in more complex environmental settings (15,38,39).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size, shape, and the thermal niche of endotherms

Porter

Kearney

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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230

250

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“…What has not yet been achieved in many cases is the combination of physiological measurements with behavioral and population studies as well as modeling approaches to understand how future problems can best be avoided. Thus, ample need exists for quantitative models of physiological responses of organisms in altered environments [64].…”

Section: Box 3 Evaluating and Predicting Conservation Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation physiology

Wikelski

Cooke

2006

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

709

623

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“…These projections, under assumptions made fairly explicit, provide hypotheses of species' potential geographic distributions and how they will change over the next few decades of evolving world climates, and this field has now seen extensive activity Berry et al 2002;Carey and Brown 1994;Erasmus et al 2002;Gottfried et al 1999;Huntley et al 1995;Kadmon and Heller 1998;Malanson et al 1992;Pearson and Dawson 2003;Pearson et al 2002;Peterson 2003b;Peterson et al 2004b;Peterson et al 2002;Peterson and Shaw 2003;Peterson et al 2005b;Porter et al 2000;Price 2000;Roura-Pascual et al 2005;Sykes et al 1996;Thuiller et al 2005a), including retro-projections aimed at reconstructing distributions in the Pleistocene (Hilbert et al 2004;Hugall et al 2002;Martínez-Meyer and Peterson 2006;Martínez-Meyer et al 2004a). The complexities of these projections, however, are only beginning to be appreciated, given species' responses to other factors such as atmospheric gas composition .…”

Section: • Predict Potential For Species' Invasionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uses and Requirements of Ecological Niche Models and Related Distributional Models

2006

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Abstract.-Modeling approaches that relate known occurrences of species to landscape features to discover ecological properties and predict geographic occurrences have seen extensive recent application in ecology, systematics, and conservation. A key component in this process is estimation or characterization of species' distributions in ecological space, which can then be useful in understanding their potential distributions in geographic space. Hence, this process is often termed ecological niche modeling or (less boldly) species distribution modeling. Applications of this approach vary widely in their aims, products, and requirements; this variety is reviewed herein, examples are provided, and differences in data needs and possible interpretations are discussed.

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Calculating Climate Effects on Birds and Mammals: Impacts on Biodiversity, Conservation, Population Parameters, and Global Community Structure

Cited by 115 publications

References 67 publications

Size, shape, and the thermal niche of endotherms

Size, shape, and the thermal niche of endotherms

Conservation physiology

Uses and Requirements of Ecological Niche Models and Related Distributional Models

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