Fine-Scale Microclimatic Variation Can Shape the Responses of Organisms to Global Change in Both Natural and Urban Environments

Abstract

When predicting the response of organisms to global change, models use measures of climate at a coarse resolution from general circulation models or from downscaled regional models. Organisms, however, do not experience climate at such large scales. The climate heterogeneity over a landscape and how much of that landscape an organism can sample will determine ultimately the microclimates experienced by organisms. This past few decades has seen an important increase in the number of studies reporting microclimatic patterns at small scales. This synthesis intends to unify studies reporting microclimatic heterogeneity (mostly temperature) at various spatial scales, to infer any emerging trends, and to discuss the causes and consequences of such heterogeneity for organismal performance and with respect to changing land use patterns and climate. First, we identify the environmental drivers of heterogeneity across the various spatial scales that are pertinent to ectotherms. The thermal heterogeneity at the local and micro-scales is mostly generated by the architecture or the geometrical features of the microhabitat. Then, the thermal heterogeneity experienced by individuals is modulated by behavior. Second, we survey the literature to quantify thermal heterogeneity from the micro-scale up to the scale of a landscape in natural habitats. Despite difficulties in compiling studies that differ much in their design and aims, we found that there is as much thermal heterogeneity across micro-, local and landscape scales, and that the temperature range is large in general (>9 °C on average, and up to 26 °C). Third, we examine the extent to which urban habitats can be used to infer the microclimatic patterns of the future. Urban areas generate globally drier and warmer microclimatic patterns and recent evidence suggest that thermal traits of ectotherms are adapted to them. Fourth, we explore the interplay between microclimate heterogeneity and the behavioral thermoregulatory abilities of ectotherms in setting their overall performance. We used a random walk framework to show that the thermal heterogeneity allows a more precise behavioral thermoregulation and a narrower temperature distribution of the ectotherm compared to less heterogeneous microhabitats. Finally, we discuss the potential impacts of global change on the fine scale mosaics of microclimates. The amplitude of change may differ between spatial scales. In heterogeneous microhabitats, the amplitude of change at micro-scale, caused by atmospheric warming, can be substantial while it can be limited at the local and landscape scales. We suggest that the warming signal will influence species performance and biotic interactions by modulating the mosaic of microclimates.

Incorporating microclimate into species distribution models

“…In cities, the urban heat island (UHI) effect results in higher air and surface temperatures than in rural surroundings, especially at night (Grimm et al 2008). In general, temperature variation occurs at multiple scales, from the smallest boundary layer of air to the landscape level (Pincebourde et al 2016, Bramer et al 2018. The UHI effect results from the interaction between the vertical use of space (e.g.…”

Fine-scale variation in microclimate across an urban landscape shapes variation in mosquito population dynamics and the potential of Aedes albopictus to transmit arboviral disease

“…Most statistical and mechanistic models used to predict mosquito borne disease transmission incorporate climate drivers of disease transmission by utilizing environmental data collected from general circulation weather models [1, 29–32], down-scaled weather data [33], outdoor weather stations [34, 35], or remotely sensed land surface temperature data [36–38]. While working with these data is methodologically tractable, mosquitoes do not experience environmental variation at such coarse scales [39, 40]. Temperature and relative humidity can vary greatly between indoor and outdoor environments [41, 42], and can be influenced strongly by variation in landscape features such as density of housing, housing material, vegetation cover, impervious surface cover, waste heat generation, and distance to water [18, 28, 43–48].…”

Exploring the predictive performance of several temperature measurements on Neotropical dung beetle assemblages: Methodological implications

“…; Pincebourde et al . ) and the temperature buffering capacity of soil is higher than that of the air (Fig. ), being fundamental in explaining the activity of some dung beetle species (Houston & McIntyre ; Krell et al .…”

“…Thus, local temperature data are frequently derived from averaging long periods and distant places, which ignore the microenvironmental and temporal variations in temperature truly experienced by the organisms (Dobrowski ; Pincebourde et al . ; Sheldon & Dillon ). Even when local temperature measurements are obtained by direct measurements, the most appropriate temperature measurement to use is sometimes unclear.…”