A hierarchical approach to understanding physiological associations with climate

Anderson, Rodolfo O.; White, Craig R.; Chapple, David G.; Kearney, Michael R.

doi:10.1111/geb.13431

Cited by 12 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 119 publications

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“…Our analyses highlight that habitats impose local variability in maximum peak temperature and heat tolerance, not influencing minimum temperature or cold tolerance. This similar contrasting pattern appears in other terrestrial ectotherms (Frishkoff et al 2015, Kaspari et al 2015, Nowakowski et al 2017, Pintanel et al 2019, Anderson et al 2022, Leahy et al 2022. The divergence on the variation of extreme environmental temperatures (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Elevational and local climate variability predicts thermal breadth of mountain tropical tadpoles

et al. 2022

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The climate variability hypothesis posits that increased environmental thermal variation should select for thermal generalists, while stable environments should favor thermal specialists. This hypothesis has been tested on large spatial scales, such as latitude and elevation, but less so on smaller scales reflective of the experienced microclimate. Here, we estimated thermal tolerance limits of 75 species of amphibian tadpoles from an aseasonal tropical mountain range of the Ecuadorian Andes, distributed along a 3500 m elevational range, to test the climatic variability hypothesis at a large (elevation) and a small (microhabitat) scale. We show how species from less variable thermal habitats, such as lowlands and those restricted to streams, exhibit narrower thermal tolerance breadths than highland and pond‐dwelling species respectively. Interestingly, while broader thermal tolerance breadths at large scales are driven by higher cold tolerance variation (heat‐invariant hypothesis), at local scales they are driven by higher heat tolerance variation. This contrasting pattern may result from divergent selection on both thermal limits to face environmental thermal extremes at different scales. Specifically, within the same elevational window, exposure to extreme maximum temperatures could be avoided through habitat shifts from temporary ponds to permanent ponds or streams, while minimum peak temperatures remained invariable between habitats but steadily decreased with elevation. Therefore an understanding of the effects of habitat conversion is crucial for future research on resilience to climate change.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Elevational and local climate variability predicts thermal breadth of mountain tropical tadpoles

et al. 2022

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“…It is possible that specialisation in abiotically stressful environments such as saline or arid aquatic habitats provides refugee from competition and predation, which are more intense in less stressful habitats (Berdugo et al., 2019; Herbst, 2001). Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the distribution patterns observed here would need to consider the interactions between biotic interactions and stress tolerance in driving habitat occupation across stress gradients, as well as the role of historical factors (Davis & Scholtz, 2001) and dispersal limitation, and other processes that occur at smaller spatial scales, requiring the use of proximal environmental predictors (Anderson et al., 2021; Schultz et al., 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lack of congruence between fundamental and realised aridity niche in a lineage of water beetles

et al. 2022

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1. Coping with aridity is a physiological challenge for all organisms, including freshwater ones. Aridity shapes distributions of aquatic species at fine and large geographical scales. Specifically, for aquatic beetles, the desiccation resistance of the adults is a potential constraint for the colonisation of arid regions.2. We assessed the congruence between the fundamental and realised aridity niche in eight species of a Palearctic lineage of water beetles (subgenus Lumetus, genus Enochrus, family Hydrophilidae). We also estimated the relative explanatory capacity of aridity-related versus other environmental variables in species distributions.3. Most of the species, even those most sensitive to desiccation stress in laboratory experiments, occur in areas with high aridity within the Palearctic region.Our results suggest a lack of association between the physiological (desiccation resistance) and environmental distance matrix (realised aridity niche), or between either of these and phylogenetic distances. Aridity-related variables had generally a similar explanatory capacity in explaining the distribution of species than non-related ones. 4. Our results indicate that desiccation resistance has not been an important physiological constraint for the colonisation of arid environments by this clade and suggest that other non-physiological factors are more important in shaping their distributions along aridity gradients. The studied beetle lineage might conserve a high basal desiccation resistance from relatively recent terrestrial ancestors, which could have provided a physiological advantage for the colonisation of arid areas. Further research could shed light on whether these unexpected results are common to other groups of aquatic insects living in arid areas or are particular to this group of beetles.

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“…These results contradicted previous studies (and our macroclimatic analyses) using coarse climatic data that found tropical species to be more vulnerable and perhaps already experiencing body temperatures beyond their upper thermal limits (Clusella‐Trullas et al, 2011; Diamond et al, 2012; Huey et al, 2009). These contradictory results reveal nuances derived from macroclimatic perspectives (Anderson, White, et al, 2022; Logan et al, 2013; Sears et al, 2011; Vasseur et al, 2014). Macroclimatic variables are usually measured at heights, or conditions, that are irrelevant for many animals (Kearney & Porter, 2009; Kearney et al, 2012; Klinges & Scheffers, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We controlled thermoregulatory behaviour by parametrizing the models with thermal physiological and ecological data collected from the literature (Kearney & Porter, 2020). The ectotherm model can produce highly accurate predictions of body temperature and activity period for lizards, and this approach has been applied in several instances (Anderson, White, et al, 2022; Kearney, 2013; Sunday et al, 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Local factors and processes occurring at spatiotemporal scales that are not captured by coarse climatic indices, such as microclimatic conditions and organismal traits (e.g. behaviour, ecology), determine ectotherm body temperatures (Anderson, White, et al, 2022; Gunderson & Leal, 2012, 2015; Suggitt et al, 2018). Body temperature, not air temperature (especially averaged across coarse climatic data), sets the threshold for activity and survival (Buckley et al, 2013; Gunderson & Leal, 2015; Kearney, 2013; Kearney et al, 2012; Sunday et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The biogeography of warming tolerance in lizards

Anderson

Meiri

Chapple

2022

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Many ectotherms are at risk from climate change as temperatures are increasingly exceeding their thermal limits. Many evaluations of the vulnerability of ectotherms to climate change have relied on statistical metrics derived from coarse‐scale climatic data, which may result in misleading predictions. By applying an integrative approach, we investigated geographical correlates of the vulnerability of lizards to climate change. Location Globally. Taxon Lizards. Methods We combined data on lizard thermal physiology and ecology, with high‐resolution climate data and biophysical modelling to assess lizards’ vulnerability to climate change. We calculated warming tolerance (difference between their body temperatures and upper thermal limits) and number of hours of activity. We investigated associations between warming tolerance and activity time with latitude, altitude and biome types. We compared our approach with traditional methods to calculate warming tolerance (using solely macroclimatic data). Results We found no latitudinal trend in the warming tolerance of lizards calculated from body temperature, but there was a weak negative correlation with altitude. We found associations between hours of activity and latitude and altitude. Desert species showed narrower warming tolerance than tropical and temperate species. Desert species and temperate species had reduced hours of activity when compared to tropical species. When warming tolerance was calculated from macroclimatic data, however, it was positively correlated with latitude and altitude, and species from tropical forested biomes showed narrow warming tolerances. Main Conclusions Vulnerability metrics calculated from macroclimatic data can produce divergent outcomes to those observed from fine‐scale climatic data. Our work indicates that the ability of desert and temperate lizard species to cope with heat stress by thermoregulating is more constrained than that of tropical species. Integrative assessments of ectotherms' vulnerability to climate change can highlight species and regions that should be prioritised for conservation management.

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A hierarchical approach to understanding physiological associations with climate

Cited by 12 publications

References 119 publications

Elevational and local climate variability predicts thermal breadth of mountain tropical tadpoles

Elevational and local climate variability predicts thermal breadth of mountain tropical tadpoles

Lack of congruence between fundamental and realised aridity niche in a lineage of water beetles

The biogeography of warming tolerance in lizards

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