The potential for behavioral thermoregulation to buffer "cold-blooded" animals against climate warming.

ABSTRACT: Increasing concern about the impacts of global warming on biodiversity has stimulated extensive discussion, but methods to translate broad-scale shifts in climate into direct impacts on living animals remain simplistic. A key missing element from models of climatic change impacts on animals is the buffering influence of behavioral thermoregulation. Here, we show how behavioral and mass/energy balance models can be combined with spatial data on climate, topography, and vegetation to predict impacts of increased air temperature on thermoregulating ectotherms such as reptiles and insects (a large portion of global biodiversity). We show that for most "cold-blooded" terrestrial animals, the primary thermal challenge is not to attain high body temperatures (although this is important in tempera

SUBMITTER: Kearney M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2656166 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature