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publicFeb 2023View details →

Data for: Beyond latitude: Temperature, productivity, and thermal niche conservatism drive global body size variation in Odonata

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publicJun 2021View details →

Endothermy makes fishes faster but does not expand their thermal niche

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publicJul 2022View details →

Micro and macroclimatic constraints on the activity of a vulnerable tortoise: a mechanistic approach under a thermal niche view

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publicNov 2024View details →

Thermal acclimation of tree species in a Tropical Andean city: Exploring the role of species origin and thermal niche

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publicFeb 2020View details →

Activity niches outperform thermal physiological limits in predicting global ant distributions

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publicJun 2025View details →

Constraints in temperature adaptation reinforce differences in thermal niche between mesophilic and psychrotolerant Bacillus cereus group species

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publicSep 2023View details →

Linking temperature dependence in fitness effects of mutations to thermal niche adaptation

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publicJan 2023View details →

Data and code from: Thermal niche and habitat use by co-occurring lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and brook trout (S. fontinalis) in stratified lakes

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opencc-zeroOct 2020View details →

Thermal niche traits of high alpine plant species and communities across the tropical Andes and their vulnerability to global warming

<a name="_Hlk10643461">Aim</a> The Climate Variability Hypothesis (CVH) predicts that locations with reduced seasonal temperature variation select for species with narrower thermal ranges. Here we (1) test the CVH by assessing the effect of latitude and elevation on the thermal ranges of Andean vascular plant species and communities, and (2) assess tropical alpine plants vulnerability to warming based on their thermal traits. Location Tropical Andes Taxon Vascular plants Methods Temperature data for 505 vascular plant species from alpine communities on 49 summits, were extracted from 29,627 geo-referenced occurrences. Species thermal niche traits (TNTs) were estimated using bootstrapping for: minimum temperature, optimum (mean) temperature, and breadth (maximum-minimum). Plant community-weighted scores were estimated using the TNTs of their constituent species. CVH was tested for species, biogeographic species groups and communities. Vulnerability to global warming was assessed for species, biogeographic species groups and communities. Results Species restricted to the equator showed narrower thermal niche breadth than species whose ranges stretch far from the equator, however, no difference in niche breadth was found across summits' elevation. Biogeographic species groups distributed close to the equator and restricted to alpine regions showed narrower niche breadth than those with broader ranges. Community weighted-scores of thermal niche breadth were positively related to distance from equator but not to elevation. Based on their TNTs, species restricted to equatorial latitudes and plant communities dominated by these species were identified as the most vulnerable to the projected 1.5 °C warming, due to a potentially higher risk of losing thermal niche space. Main conclusions Our study confirms that the CVH applies to high tropical Andean plant species and communities, where latitude had a strong effect on the thermal niche breadth. TNTs are identified as suitable indicators of species' vulnerability to warming and are suggested to be included in long-term biodiversity monitoring in the Andes.

opencc-zeroDec 2020View details →

Data from: Trade-offs between morphology and thermal niches mediate adaptation in response to competing selective pressures

The effects of climate change - such as increased temperature variability and novel predators – rarely happen in isolation, but it is unclear how organisms cope with multiple stressors simultaneously. To explore this, we grew replicate Paramecium caudatum populations in either constant or variable temperatures and exposed half to predation. We then fit thermal performance curves (TPCs) of intrinsic growth rate (rmax) for each replicate population (N = 12) across seven temperatures (10°C - 38°C). TPCs of P. caudatum exposed to both temperature variability and predation responded only to one or the other (but not both), resulting in unpredictable outcomes. These changes in TPCs were accompanied by changes in cell morphology. Although cell volume was conserved across treatments, cells became narrower in response to temperature variability and rounder in response to predation. Our findings suggest that predation and temperature variability produce conflicting pressures on both thermal performance and cell morphology. Lastly, we found a strong correlation between changes in cell morphology and TPC parameters in response to predation, suggesting that responses to opposing selective pressures could be constrained by trade-offs. Our results shed new light on how environmental and ecological pressures interact to elicit changes in characteristics at both the individual and population levels. We further suggest that morphological responses to interactive environmental forces may modulate population-level responses, making prediction of long-term responses to environmental change challenging.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Towards a mechanistic understanding of thermal niche partitioning

We develop a theoretical framework to elucidate the mechanistic basis of thermal niche partitioning in ectotherms. Using a food web module of two consumers competing for a biotic resource, we investigate how temperature effects on species' attack and mortality rates scale up to population-level outcomes of coexistence and exclusion. We find that species' differences in competitive effects arise from asymmetries generated by the non-linear temperature response of mortality: cold-adapted species experience stronger intra-specific competition than warm-adapted species; they also exert weaker competition on, and experience stronger competition from, warm-adapted species. These asymmetries become greater as seasonal fluctuations increase, generating latitudinal variation in coexistence and priority effects. Characterizing species' thermal niches in terms of mechanistic descriptions of trait responses allows for testable predictions about population-level competitive outcomes based solely on three fundamental, and easily measurable, quantities: attack rate optima, response breadths and temperature sensitivity of mortality. We test our predictions with data from an insect host-parasitoid community. By quantifying the three basic quantities we predict that priority effects cannot occur, which is borne out by population-level experiments showing that the outcome of competition does not depend on initial conditions. More broadly, our framework can predict the conditions under which exotic invasive species can exclude, or coexist with, native biota, and the effects of climate warming on competitive communities across latitudinal gradients.

opencc-zeroJul 2019View details →

Data from: Lizards in the mist: thermal niches constrained by habitat and microclimates in the Andes of southern Bolivia

Aim: To understand how the activity budgets of ectotherms vary in mountain areas with high microclimatic and habitat heterogeneity, and how these factors together with habitat modulate the assemblage of ectotherm communities. Location; Tajzara Basin, Cordillera de Sama (3600–4300 masl), Department of Tarija, Bolivia. Taxon: four lizard species of the genus Liolaemus. Methods: After parameterizing the thermal physiology of each species and recording operative temperature time series with dataloggers, we calculated activity budgets for every species across 30 sampling sites. By multimodel inference we evaluated how activity budgets varied across the topography. We also assessed how abundances of each species were predicted by activity budgets, restriction time, temperature deviation, habitat covers and exposure to cold microclimate. Results: Activity budgets were not only influenced by elevation, but also by the exposure to cold air that comes through saddles from the eastern side of the mountain divide. Although thermal physiological parameters were relatively similar among the species, their abundances were conditioned to different extents by activity budgets, habitat and microclimates. Main conclusions: The abundance and distribution of each species across these lizard communities reflect the microclimatic heterogeneity originated by complex topography, which uncouples activity budgets from elevation. Only one species was confined to cold microclimate refugia with higher exposure to Föhn effect. Despite having relatively similar thermal aspect of fundamental niches, lizards may differ in their realized niches by habitat selection. Habitat specialization could compromise the persistence of some species under global warming by reducing the dispersal possibilities to certain areas where population sustainability might be impaired in the long term. Understanding the heterogeneity of microclimates and habitats and the physiology of the species partially explains their distribution at local scale, and provides insights on how to best confront upcoming climate change effects.

opencc-zeroDec 2023View details →

Data for: Recent changes in thermal niche position and breadth of bird assemblages in Spain in relation to increasing temperatures

Aim: Animal communities around the world are responding to climate change by altering their taxonomic composition, mainly through an increase in the colonisation rate of warm-dwelling species and the local extinction of cold-dwelling ones. We assessed whether the taxonomic composition of bird assemblages in peninsular Spain has changed in accordance with the recent increase in temperature. We also evaluated the role of species' thermal affinities and population dynamics in these changes. Location: Peninsular Spain. Taxon: Birds. Methods: We compared assemblages reported in the last Spanish breeding bird atlases (1998–2002 vs 2014–2019) in 10x10 km squares. We described species' thermal niches by overlaying global species breeding distributions and world temperature metrics (based on mean, minimum, maximum and range), and then aggregated them to obtain a set of community thermal indices for each assemblage (CTIs, and CTR for ranges). Long-term average temperatures and local current temperatures were related to changes in CTIs using spatial GLMMs, which considered habitat change. We identified the species most responsible for variation in assemblages and regressed species' influence on thermal affinities and population dynamics. Results: CTIs increased with temperature and warm-dwelling species became more prevalent to the detriment of cold-dwelling ones. However, we found a counteracting effect of temperature and habitat. Cold-dwelling forest species were among the most influential species, mainly through colonisation, while warm-dwelling farmland species contributed through local extinctions (both attenuated local increases in CTI). The mean thermal breadth of assemblages (CTR) decreased with temperatures. Main conclusions: The taxonomic composition of bird assemblages shifted in line with the main expectations due to global change (thermophilisation), mainly due to local colonisation of warm-dwelling species, although it did not show the pattern of thermal homogenization suggested elsewhere. Our results add further evidence of the interplay between climate warming and land-use change in the ongoing adjustment of animal communities.

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Light and thermal niches of ground-foraging Amazonian insectivorous birds

Insectivores of the tropical rainforest floor are consistently among the most vulnerable birds to forest clearing and fragmentation. Several hypotheses attempt to explain this pattern, including sensitivity to extreme microclimates found near forest borders—particularly brighter and warmer conditions. Importantly, this "microclimate hypothesis" has additional implications for intact forest under global climate change that could be evaluated through direct assessment of the light and temperature environment of terrestrial insectivores. In this study, we harness novel technology to directly quantify the light and thermal niches of 10 species of terrestrial insectivores in undisturbed Amazonian rainforest. Loggers placed on birds (N = 33) and their environment (N = 9) recorded nearly continuous microclimate data from 2017–2019, amassing >5 million measurements. We found that midday light intensity in treefall gaps (~39,000 lux) was >40 times higher than at the ground level of forest interior (950 lux). Light intensity registered by sensors placed on birds averaged 17.4 (range 3.9–41.5) lux, with species using only 4.3 (0.9–10.4) % of available light on the forest floor. Birds thus selected very dark microhabitats—the light environment was >2,200 times brighter in treefall gaps. Bird thermal niche was a function of ambient temperature as well as body temperature, which averaged >40.5 °C but varied among species. Forest floor temperature peaked daily at 27.0 °C, while bird loggers averaged 35.1 (34.5–35.7) °C at midday. The antpitta Myrmothera campanisona and the antthrush Formicarius colma used thermal conditions closest to their body temperatures, whereas leaftossers (Sclerurus spp.) and Myrmornis torquata occupied relatively cool microclimates. We found no general link between abundance trends and variation in species-specific light and thermal niches. Rather, all species occupied remarkably dim and cool microclimates. Because such conditions are rare outside of the interior of primary forest, these results support the microclimate hypothesis in disturbed landscapes. Moreover, strong avoidance to conditions that are becoming more common under climate change highlights the vulnerability of terrestrial insectivores even in the absence of disturbance and may be the reason for enigmatic declines in Amazonia and elsewhere.

Fig. 2 a–c in Non-ecological speciation, niche conservatism and thermal adaptation: how are they connected?

Fig. 2 a–c. Strong sexual isolation between two congeneric species of demoiselles (Odonata: Calopteryx) in Europe. a These two species differ mainly in the male's secondary sexual character (amount of wing melanization, while females of both species are very similar. The banded demoiselle (C. splendens) has about 50 % of the wing covered with melanin, whereas the beautiful demoiselle (C. virgo) has almost the entire wing melanized. b At a sympatric locality in southern Sweden ("Klingavälsåns Naturreservat") these two species are strongly sexually isolated from each other and mate assortatively, although a few heterospecific pairs are found. c Experimental manipulation of

Fig. 5 a–c in Non-ecological speciation, niche conservatism and thermal adaptation: how are they connected?

Fig. 5 a–c. Mate preferences and species recognition is learned, rather than purely genetic among females of the banded demoiselle (C. splendens). a Female C. splendens discriminate between con- and hetero-specific males based on a visual cue: the amount of wing melanization (see also Fig. 2). Females (middle, below the two males) were allowed to choose and/or physically interact with either con- or hetero-specific males, and their mate responses were recorded (b, c). b Species discrimination is not present among sexually naïve C. splendens females that have been isolated since emergence from males of both species, but is present among sexually experienced females that have interacted with males in the field. Filled symbols Heterospecific

Fig. 4 a–c in Non-ecological speciation, niche conservatism and thermal adaptation: how are they connected?

Fig. 4 a–c. Sexual and natural selection on 12 morphological traits in the banded demoiselle (C. splendens), based on field observations of mating success of marked individuals. a Sexual selection is stronger than natural selection across all traits, irrespective over which time scale sexual selection is measured ("short" vs "long", referring to minutes and hours vs days). b Natural selection on the morphological

Fig. 3 a–c in Non-ecological speciation, niche conservatism and thermal adaptation: how are they connected?

Fig. 3 a–c. Weak interspecific thermal niche divergence between phenotypically and ecologically similar demoiselles (C. splendens and C. virgo). a Thermal images obtained from infrared (IR) photographs of demoiselles can be used to obtain accurate estimates of body temperatures, ambient temperatures and substrate temperatures. Here a copulating pair of C. virgo (pair in middle of figure). Note the white colour of the male, which reveals his substantially higher body temperature than the substrate (temperature scale on the right). b Interspecific niche divergence between C. splendens and C. virgo in minimum thorax temperature, substrate temperature, maximum substrate temperature and ambient temperature at a sympatric site ("Klingavälsåns Naturreservat" in southern Sweden). There is no

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2024View details →

Data for: Vertical and diel niches modulate thermal selection by rainforest frogs (Klinges et al. 2024, Proc B)

paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1497