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What happens to animals as the climate warms?

In a paper published recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, two SFI researchers and their collaborators suggest ways some animals’ developmental responses to a warmer climate may inhibit their abilities to thrive.

SFI External Professor Jim Brown (University of New Mexico), SFI Distinguished Professor Geoffrey West, and collaborators Wenyun Zuo, Melanie Moses (both of the University of New Mexico), and Chen Hou (Missouri University of Science and Technology) describe a general model for growth and development focusing on ectotherms: animals such as reptiles that regulate body temperature through external means (by basking in the sun, for example). Their model predicts that many ectotherms may, in warmer environments, grow faster and mature at smaller sizes.

The model also suggests that some ectotherm species may hatch earlier in the year. This could be a problem, Brown says. If they hatch smaller, they may be more vulnerable to predators. In both cases, they may encounter an environment for which they are not well suited.

Another case: In some species such as crocodiles, sex is determined by temperature. If too many males or females are born, and they’re too small, the population may have trouble reproducing.

In future work, the researchers will incorporate their model into answering one of biology’s hardest questions: Why is there more biodiversity in the wet and warm tropics?

Read the Royal Society B paper (November 30, 2011)

More research news in the SFI Update newsletter (January-February issue)

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