Global analysis of thermal tolerance and latitude in ectotherms
Open accessAbstract
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, and do so 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.
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Predictions of tropical ectotherm vulnerability have been verified in a variety of tropical reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.
“These predictions have been verified in a variety of tropical reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates (4–8).”
From Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web (2018) · cites this paper as [8]
The analyses are in keeping with predictions of Deutsch et al. that tropical insects should be especially vulnerable to climate warming.
“Fourth, our analyses are in keeping with predictions of Deutsch et al. (5) that tropical insects should be especially vulnerable to climate warming, adding to field and laboratory studies over the past several years that have consistently supported the predicted sensitivity (8, 48–53).”
From Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web (2018) · cites this paper as [8]
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- Authors
- Sunday, J. M., Bates, A. E., & Dulvy, N. K.
- Affiliations
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- Deakin University (AU)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2010-11-24
- Volume
- 278
- Issue
- 1713
- Pages
- 1823-1830
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC3097822
- OpenAlex
- W2125270554
- Cited by
- 1,300
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 79 · 2025: 105 · 2024: 88 · 2023: 87 · 2022: 107 · 2021: 130 · 2020: 106 · 2019: 124 · 2018: 84 · 2017: 66 · 2016: 89 · 2015: 70 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 53 · 2012: 42
- FWCI
- 33.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) (submittedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Keywords
- heat tolerance, latitudinal gradient, ectotherms, thermal limits, seasonal temperature variation, marine ectotherms, Northern Hemisphere, macroecology, temperature extremes, thermal physiology
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Physiological, Animals, Arthropods, Climate, Environment, Geography, Models, Biological, Mollusca, Species Specificity, Temperature, Vertebrates, Ecosystem
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