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Global analysis of thermal tolerance and latitude in ectotherms

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 10:55 authored by Sunday, JM, Bates, AE, Dulvy, NK
A tenet of macroecology is that physiological processes of organisms are linked to large-scale geographical patterns in environmental conditions. Species at higher latitudes experience greater seasonal temperature variation and are consequently predicted to withstand greater temperature extremes. We tested for relationships between breadths of thermal tolerance in ectothermic animals and the latitude of specimen location using all available data, while accounting for habitat, hemisphere, methodological differences and taxonomic affinity. We found that thermal tolerance breadths generally increase with latitude, but at a greater rate in the Northern Hemisphere. In terrestrial ectotherms, upper thermal limits vary little while lower thermal limits decrease with latitude. By contrast, marine species display a coherent poleward decrease in both upper and lower thermal limits. Our findings provide comprehensive global support for hypotheses generated from studies at smaller taxonomic subsets and geographical scales. Our results further indicate differences between terrestrial and marine ectotherms in how thermal physiology varies with latitude that may relate to the degree of temperature variability experienced on land and in the ocean.

History

Publication title

Proceedings of The Royal Society B

Volume

278

Issue

1713

Pagination

1823-1830

ISSN

1471-2954

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Royal Society Publishing

Place of publication

UK

Rights statement

Copyright 2010 The Royal Society

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Marine biodiversity

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