Developmental plasticity in thermal tolerance: Ontogenetic variation, persistence, and future directions.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the factors affecting thermal tolerance is crucial for predicting the impact climate change will have on ectotherms. However, the role developmental plasticity plays in allowing populations to cope with thermal extremes is poorly understood. Here, we meta-analyse how thermal tolerance is initially and persistently impacted by early (embryonic and juvenile) thermal environments by using data from 150 experimental studies on 138 ectothermic species. Thermal tolerance only increased by 0.13°C per 1°C change in developmental temperature and substantial variation in plasticity (~36%) was the result of shared evolutionary history and species ecology. Aquatic ectotherms were more than three times as plastic as terrestrial ectotherms. Notably, embryos expressed weaker but more hetero

SUBMITTER: Pottier P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9804923 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature