scholarly journals Testing the heat dissipation limitation hypothesis: basal metabolic rates of endotherms decrease with increasing upper and lower critical temperatures

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran Khaliq ◽  
Christian Hof
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Critical Temperatures ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Species Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
The Relationship

Metabolic critical temperatures define the range of ambient temperatures where endotherms are able to minimize energy allocation to thermogenesis. Examining the relationship between metabolic critical temperatures and basal metabolic rates (BMR) provides a unique opportunity to gain a better understanding of how animals respond to varying ambient climatic conditions, especially in times of ongoing and projected future climate change. We make use of this opportunity by testing the heat dissipation limit (HDL) theory, which hypothesizes that the maximum amount of heat a species can dissipate constrains its energetics. Specifically, we test the theory’s implicit prediction that BMR should be lower under higher metabolic critical temperatures. We analysed the relationship of BMR with upper and lower critical temperatures for a large dataset of 146 endotherm species using regression analyses, carefully accounting for phylogenetic relationships and body mass. We show that metabolic critical temperatures are negatively related with BMR in both birds and mammals. Our results confirm the predictions of the HDL theory, suggesting that metabolic critical temperatures and basal metabolic rates respond in concert to ambient climatic conditions. This implies that heat dissipation capacities of endotherms may be an important factor to take into account in assessments of species’ vulnerability to climate change.

scholarly journals Contrasting capabilities of two ungulate species to cope with extremes of aridity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Boyers ◽  
Francesca Parrini ◽  
Norman Owen-Smith ◽  
Barend F. N. Erasmus ◽  
Robyn S. Hetem
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Water ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Body Temperatures ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Mammalian Herbivores ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Connochaetes Taurinus

AbstractSouthern Africa is expected to experience increased frequency and intensity of droughts through climate change, which will adversely affect mammalian herbivores. Using bio-loggers, we tested the expectation that wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), a grazer with high water-dependence, would be more sensitive to drought conditions than the arid-adapted gemsbok (Oryx gazella gazella). The study, conducted in the Kalahari, encompassed two hot-dry seasons with similar ambient temperatures but differing rainfall patterns during the preceding wet season. In the drier year both ungulates selected similar cooler microclimates, but wildebeest travelled larger distances than gemsbok, presumably in search of water. Body temperatures in both species reached lower daily minimums and higher daily maximums in the drier season but daily fluctuations were wider in wildebeest than in gemsbok. Lower daily minimum body temperatures displayed by wildebeest suggest that wildebeest were under greater nutritional stress than gemsbok. Moving large distances when water is scarce may have compromised the energy balance of the water dependent wildebeest, a trade-off likely to be exacerbated with future climate change.

scholarly journals Future climate change vulnerability of endemic island mammals

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Leclerc ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
Céline Bellard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Insular Ecosystems

Abstract Despite their high vulnerability, insular ecosystems have been largely ignored in climate change assessments, and when they are investigated, studies tend to focus on exposure to threats instead of vulnerability. The present study examines climate change vulnerability of islands, focusing on endemic mammals and by 2050 (RCPs 6.0 and 8.5), using trait-based and quantitative-vulnerability frameworks that take into account exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Our results suggest that all islands and archipelagos show a certain level of vulnerability to future climate change, that is typically more important in Pacific Ocean ones. Among the drivers of vulnerability to climate change, exposure was rarely the main one and did not explain the pattern of vulnerability. In addition, endemic mammals with long generation lengths and high dietary specializations are predicted to be the most vulnerable to climate change. Our findings highlight the importance of exploring islands vulnerability to identify the highest climate change impacts and to avoid the extinction of unique biodiversity.

Reflections on a seminal paper in conservation biology: the legacy of Peters and Darling (1985)

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Lesley Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Conservation Biology ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Logical Framework ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Seminal Paper ◽  
Species Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Species Translocation ◽  
Rapid Environmental Change

‘The Greenhouse Effect and Nature Reserves’ by Robert Peters and Joan Darling, published in the journal Bioscience more than 30 years ago, was a ground-breaking synthesis. Drawing on paleoecology, community ecology and biogeography, the review laid out many concepts about species vulnerability to climate change that have become central tenets of research on climate change adaptation in natural ecosystems. Remarkably, the paper also provided a clear and logical framework for flexible, forward-thinking and interventionist management action, including recommendations about the design of protected areas, and the need for species translocation to reduce extinction risk. Reflecting on the legacy of this paper, it is clear that the uptake of such approaches over the intervening decades has been extremely slow, representing many lost opportunities to reduce species vulnerability to rapid environmental change. This paper is a tribute to the prescience of Peters and Darling, and a call to revisit their farsighted advice to meet conservation challenges that continue to accelerate.

scholarly journals What Drives Climate Action in Canada’s Provincial North? Exploring the Role of Connectedness to Nature, Climate Worry, and Talking with Friends and Family

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Lindsay P. Galway ◽  
Thomas Beery ◽  
Chris Buse ◽  
Maya K. Gislason
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Connectedness To Nature ◽  
Leverage Point ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Relationship

Despite widespread calls to action from the scientific community and beyond, a concerning climate action gap exists. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the role of connectedness to nature in promoting individual-level climate action in a unique setting where climate research and action are lacking: Canada’s Provincial North. To begin to understand possible pathways, we also examined whether climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends mediate the relationship between connectedness to nature and climate action. We used data collected via postal surveys in two Provincial North communities, Thunder Bay (Ontario), and Prince George (British Columbia) (n = 628). Results show that connectedness to nature has a direct positive association with individual-level climate action, controlling for gender and education. Results of parallel mediation analyses further show that connectedness to nature is indirectly associated with individual-level climate action, mediated by both climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends. Finally, results suggest that climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends serially mediate the relationship between connectedness to nature and with individual-level climate action. These findings are relevant for climate change engagement and action, especially across Canada’s Provincial North, but also in similar settings characterized by marginalization, heightened vulnerability to climate change, urban islands within vast rural and remote landscapes, and economies and social identities tied to resource extraction. Drawing on these findings, we argue that cultivating stronger connections with nature in the places where people live, learn, work, and play is an important and currently underutilized leverage point for promoting individual-level climate action. This study therefore adds to the current and increasingly relevant calls for (re-)connecting with nature that have been made by others across a range of disciplinary and sectoral divides.

scholarly journals Current and future suitable habitat areas for Nasuella olivacea (Gray, 1865) in Colombia and Ecuador and analysis of its distribution across different land uses

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Medrano-Vizcaíno ◽  
Patricia Gutiérrez-Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Potential Distribution ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Ecological Niche Models

Nasuella olivacea is an endemic mammal from the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia. Due to its rarity, aspects about its natural history, ecology and distribution patterns are not well known, therefore, research is needed to generate knowledge about this carnivore and a first step is studying suitable habitat areas. We performed Ecological Niche Models and applied future climate change scenarios (2.6 and 8.5 RCP) to determine the potential distribution of this mammal in Colombia and Ecuador, with current and future climate change conditions; furthermore, we analysed its distribution along several land covers. We found that N. olivacea is likely to be found in areas where no records have been reported previously; likewise, climate change conditions would increase suitable distribution areas. Concerning land cover, 73.4% of N. olivacea potential distribution was located outside Protected Areas (PA), 46.1% in Forests and 40.3% in Agricultural Lands. These findings highlight the need to further research understudied species, furthering our understanding about distribution trends and responses to changing climatic conditions, as well as informig future PA designing. These are essential tools for supporting wildlife conservation plans, being applicable for rare species whose biology and ecology remain unknown.

DATA ANALYTICS FOR CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150005
Author(s):  
STAVROS DEMERTZIS ◽  
VASILIKI DEMERTZI ◽  
KONSTANTINOS DEMERTZIS
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Atmospheric Science ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Rivers And Lakes ◽  
Atmospheric Concentrations

Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. Under these conditions, air pollution is likely to reach levels that create undesirable living conditions. Anthropogenic activities, such as industry, release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, increasing the atmospheric concentrations of these gases, thus significantly enhancing the greenhouse effect, which has the effect of increasing air heat and thus the speedup of climate change. The use of sophisticated data analysis methods to identify the causes of extreme pollutant values, the correlation of these values with the general climatic conditions and the general malfunctions that can be caused by prolonged air pollution can give a clear picture of current and future climate change. This paper presents a thorough study of preprocessing steps of data analytics and the appropriate big data architectures that are appropriate for the research study of Climate Change and Atmospheric Science.

scholarly journals Considering adaptive genetic variation in climate change vulnerability assessment reduces species range loss projections

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 10418-10423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orly Razgour ◽  
Brenna Forester ◽  
John B. Taggart ◽  
Michaël Bekaert ◽  
Javier Juste ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Landscape Connectivity ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Genetic Variation ◽  
Climate Change Vulnerability ◽  
Species Vulnerability ◽  
Evolutionary Rescue

Local adaptations can determine the potential of populations to respond to environmental changes, yet adaptive genetic variation is commonly ignored in models forecasting species vulnerability and biogeographical shifts under future climate change. Here we integrate genomic and ecological modeling approaches to identify genetic adaptations associated with climate in two cryptic forest bats. We then incorporate this information directly into forecasts of range changes under future climate change and assessment of population persistence through the spread of climate-adaptive genetic variation (evolutionary rescue potential). Considering climate-adaptive potential reduced range loss projections, suggesting that failure to account for intraspecific variability can result in overestimation of future losses. On the other hand, range overlap between species was projected to increase, indicating that interspecific competition is likely to play an important role in limiting species’ future ranges. We show that although evolutionary rescue is possible, it depends on a population’s adaptive capacity and connectivity. Hence, we stress the importance of incorporating genomic data and landscape connectivity in climate change vulnerability assessments and conservation management.

scholarly journals “Everywhere you go always take the weather with you”: Phenomenology and the pedagogy of climate change education

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Howard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human History ◽  
Climate Change Education ◽  
Living World ◽  
To Come ◽  
Imminent Threat ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Regional Programs

In no other time in human history has the relationship between human beings, and the biosphere on which we depend, been fraught with such a sense of urgency. Responding to the imminent threat of climate change has focussed our attention on education. There has been a proliferation of international, national and regional programs designed to change attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs associated with the causes of climate change. This paper will look to phenomenology and pedagogy to attempt describe the experience of climate and to help us consider how we may allow the young to live in a time of inevitable climate disruption while  nurturing what seems to come to them naturally, an embodied integration into the wonder and awe of the places they live.  Also, this paper explores two dominant approaches to climate change education and asks how these approaches articulate an understanding of the essential relationship between humans and the larger living world as reflected through changing climatic conditions. 

scholarly journals Basal metabolic rate of birds is associated with habitat temperature and precipitation, not primary productivity

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1607) ◽  
pp. 287-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig R White ◽  
Tim M Blackburn ◽  
Graham R Martin ◽  
Patrick J Butler
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Generalized Least Squares ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Habitat Temperature ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship

A classic example of ecophysiological adaptation is the observation that animals from hot arid environments have lower basal metabolic rates (BMRs, ml O 2  min −1 ) than those from non-arid (luxuriant) ones. However, the term ‘arid’ conceals within it a multitude of characteristics including extreme ambient temperatures ( T a , °C) and low annual net primary productivities (NPPs, g C m −2 ), both of which have been shown to correlate with BMR. To assess the relationship between environmental characteristics and metabolic rate in birds, we collated BMR measurements for 92 populations representing 90 wild-caught species and examined the relationships between BMR and NPP, T a , annual temperature range ( T r ), precipitation and intra-annual coefficient of variation of precipitation ( P CV ). Using conventional non-phylogenetic and phylogenetic generalized least-squares approaches, we found no support for a relationship between BMR and NPP, despite including species captured throughout the world in environments spanning a 35-fold range in NPP. Instead, BMR was negatively associated with T a and T r , and positively associated with P CV .

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