2023-11-23 18:30:58
Lizard – PXHERE
MADRID, 23 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
There are patterns regarding the importance of temperature in determining where species live, which sheds light on their sensitivity to climate change.
A new study led by researchers at McGill University investigates the importance of temperature in determining where animal species are currently located to better understand how warming occurs. The climate could affect where they might live in the future.
To find out, the researchers tested the role of temperature as a factor that could limit a species’ potential habitat range. They compared the temperatures and areas where 460 species of cold-blooded animals currently live with the temperatures and areas where they could live based on their temperature tolerance.
They found that, unlike species that live in the ocean, land animals such as reptiles, amphibians and insects have habitat ranges that are less directly affected by temperature. The higher the latitude of a species, the less its tendency to live in areas near the equator with temperatures it can tolerate., say the researchers. This means that, rather than temperature tolerance, negative interactions with other species (such as competitors or parasites) could be what keeps these species away from this potential habitat.
“It wasn’t surprising to find that temperature doesn’t always limit the range of species, but what was surprising was that, despite the complexity, we found general patterns in the role that temperature plays among species,” he said. it’s a statement the lead author of the study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution and doctoral student in the Department of Biology, Nikki A. Moore.
“This research helps us understand the general patterns of how sensitive the distributions of different species of cold-blooded animals may be to changes in temperature, which will help us predict how the global distribution of species will change due to climate change“.
The pattern Moore and his colleagues found helps resolve two competing hypotheses about the distribution of life on Earth.
“While species ranges have long been thought to be less limited by temperature and more limited by interactions between species in the tropics, the new work shows that species from higher latitudes are increasingly excluded from their ranges. potentials in the tropics, which supports the idea of a balance between wide thermal tolerances and performance in the tropics“Moore said.
While these results provide information about the sensitivity of species in different areas and latitudes to climate change, the next step of this research is to test these predictions using real observations of changes in the species’ distribution range, the researchers say.
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