Global variation in thermal tolerances and vulnerability of endotherms to climate change

Khaliq, Imran; Hof, Christian; Prinzinger, Roland; Böhning‐Gaese, Katrin; Pfenninger, Markus

doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.1097

Cited by 258 publications

(371 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(106 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

336

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, a large proportion of mammals are nocturnal, burrowing, and hibernators, attributes that are rare in birds but tend to reduce exposure to extreme temperatures in mammals (23,24). This interpretation is consistent with results found by Khaliq et al (1). In both birds and mammals, adaptive body size-independent changes to BMR and thermal conductance, in combination with additional behavioral and physiological traits, allow species to occur in a wide range of thermal environments.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Across their nearly worldwide distributions, endothermic birds and mammals maintain near-constant body temperatures in the face of extreme and fluctuating environmental temperatures. Elucidating the morphological and physiological adaptations that allow species to inhabit such a wide spectrum of thermal environments is important for understanding the distribution of biodiversity and for predicting responses of species to climate change (1,2).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Metabolic heat production and thermal conductance are mass-independent adaptations to thermal environment in birds and mammals

Fristoe

Burger

Balk

et al. 2015

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

Self Cite

123

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The extent to which different kinds of organisms have adapted to environmental temperature regimes is central to understanding how they respond to climate change. The Scholander-Irving (S-I) model of heat transfer lays the foundation for explaining how endothermic birds and mammals maintain their high, relatively constant body temperatures in the face of wide variation in environmental temperature. The S-I model shows how body temperature is regulated by balancing the rates of heat production and heat loss. Both rates scale with body size, suggesting that larger animals should be better adapted to cold environments than smaller animals, and vice versa. However, the global distributions of ∼9,000 species of terrestrial birds and mammals show that the entire range of body sizes occurs in nearly all climatic regimes. Using physiological and environmental temperature data for 211 bird and 178 mammal species, we test for mass-independent adaptive changes in two key parameters of the S-I model: basal metabolic rate (BMR) and thermal conductance. We derive an axis of thermal adaptation that is independent of body size, extends the S-I model, and highlights interactions among physiological and morphological traits that allow endotherms to persist in a wide range of temperatures. Our macrophysiological and macroecological analyses support our predictions that shifts in BMR and thermal conductance confer important adaptations to environmental temperature in both birds and mammals.macrophysiology | Bergmann's rule | body size | metabolic rate | thermal conductance A fundamental problem in ecology and biogeography is to elucidate the physiological processes that determine the environmental tolerances and influence the distributions of species. Across their nearly worldwide distributions, endothermic birds and mammals maintain near-constant body temperatures in the face of extreme and fluctuating environmental temperatures. Elucidating the morphological and physiological adaptations that allow species to inhabit such a wide spectrum of thermal environments is important for understanding the distribution of biodiversity and for predicting responses of species to climate change (1, 2).In a seminal paper, Scholander et al. (3) showed how endotherms balance rates of heat production and heat loss so as to maintain a constant body temperature in the face of varying environmental temperatures. The essence of the Scholander-Irving (S-I) model is the equation:where T b is body temperature, T a is ambient temperature, B is the rate of metabolic heat production, and C is the rate of heat loss or thermal conductance (4). For a resting animal, which has minimized heat loss by maximizing insulation and optimizing body posture, C = minimum thermal conductance (C MIN ); B = basal metabolic rate (BMR); and T a = T lc , where T lc is the lower critical temperature or the lower limit of the thermal neutral zone (TNZ).The TNZ is ecologically important because it is the range of environmental temperatures where energy expenditure is minimal; out...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic heat production and thermal conductance are mass-independent adaptations to thermal environment in birds and mammals

Fristoe

Burger

Balk

et al. 2015

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

Self Cite

123

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The bird-bivalve discordance in species range-size gradients may reflect (i) marine-terrestrial differences in the current distribution of range-limiting conditions along the latitudinal gradients [54,55] and/or (ii) past history, notably the stronger effects of Pleistocene glaciations in the terrestrial compared with the marine system [56].…”

Section: (A) Species Range Sizesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unifying latitudinal gradients in range size and richness across marine and terrestrial systems

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many marine and terrestrial clades show similar latitudinal gradients in species richness, but opposite gradients in range size-on land, ranges are the smallest in the tropics, whereas in the sea, ranges are the largest in the tropics. Therefore, richness gradients in marine and terrestrial systems do not arise from a shared latitudinal arrangement of species range sizes. Comparing terrestrial birds and marine bivalves, we find that gradients in range size are concordant at the level of genera. Here, both groups show a nested pattern in which narrow-ranging genera are confined to the tropics and broad-ranging genera extend across much of the gradient. We find that (i) genus range size and its variation with latitude is closely associated with per-genus species richness and (ii) broad-ranging genera contain more species both within and outside of the tropics when compared with tropical-or temperate-only genera. Within-genus species diversification thus promotes genus expansion to novel latitudes. Despite underlying differences in the species range-size gradients, species-rich genera are more likely to produce a descendant that extends its range relative to the ancestor's range. These results unify species richness gradients with those of genera, implying that birds and bivalves share similar latitudinal dynamics in net species diversification.

show abstract

“…Many tropical endotherms may soon experience ambient temperatures above their laboratory-measured thermal neutral zones [3]. Species' behavioural plasticity may allow them to persist even in the face of excessive heat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ongoing warming could push ambient temperatures above the thermal neutral zones of many tropical endotherms [3][4][5], suggesting that these species & 2017 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lowland biotic attrition revisited: body size and variation among climate change ‘winners’ and ‘losers’

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The responses of lowland tropical communities to climate change will critically influence global biodiversity but remain poorly understood. If species in these systems are unable to tolerate warming, the communities-currently the most diverse on Earth-may become depauperate ('biotic attrition'). In response to temperature changes, animals can adjust their distribution in space or their activity in time, but these two components of the niche are seldom considered together. We assessed the spatio-temporal niches of rainforest mammal species in Borneo across gradients in elevation and temperature. Most species are not predicted to experience changes in spatio-temporal niche availability, even under pessimistic warming scenarios. Responses to temperature are not predictable by phylogeny but do appear to be trait-based, being much more variable in smaller-bodied taxa. General circulation models and weather station data suggest unprecedentedly high midday temperatures later in the century; predicted responses to this warming among small-bodied species range from 9% losses to 6% gains in spatio-temporal niche availability, while larger species have close to 0% predicted change. Body mass may therefore be a key ecological trait influencing the identity of climate change winners and losers. Mammal species composition will probably change in some areas as temperatures rise, but full-scale biotic attrition this century appears unlikely.

show abstract

Global variation in thermal tolerances and vulnerability of endotherms to climate change

Cited by 258 publications

References 59 publications

Metabolic heat production and thermal conductance are mass-independent adaptations to thermal environment in birds and mammals

Metabolic heat production and thermal conductance are mass-independent adaptations to thermal environment in birds and mammals

Unifying latitudinal gradients in range size and richness across marine and terrestrial systems

Lowland biotic attrition revisited: body size and variation among climate change ‘winners’ and ‘losers’

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About