Thermal physiological traits in tropical lowland amphibians: Vulnerability to climate warming and cooling
Date
2019
Authors
von May, Rudolf
Catenazzi, Alessandro
Santa-Cruz, Roy
Gutierrez, Andrea S.
Moritz, Craig
Rabosky, Daniel
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Public Library of Science
Abstract
Climate change is affecting biodiversity and ecosystem function worldwide, and the lowland
tropics are of special concern because organisms living in this region experience temperatures that are close to their upper thermal limits. However, it remains unclear how and
whether tropical lowland species will be able to cope with the predicted pace of climate
warming. Additionally, there is growing interest in examining how quickly thermal physiological traits have evolved across taxa, and whether thermal physiological traits are evolutionarily conserved or labile. We measured critical thermal maximum (CTmax) and minimum
(CTmin) in 56 species of lowland Amazonian frogs to determine the extent of phylogenetic
conservatism in tolerance to heat and cold, and to predict species’ vulnerability to climate
change. The species we studied live in sympatry and represent ~65% of the known alpha
diversity at our study site. Given that critical thermal limits may have evolved differently in
response to different temperature constraints, we tested whether CTmax and CTmin exhibit
different rates of evolutionary change. Measuring both critical thermal traits allowed us to
estimate species’ thermal breadth and infer their potential to respond to abrupt changes in
temperature (warming and cooling). Additionally, we assessed the contribution of life history
traits and found that both critical thermal traits were correlated with species’ body size and
microhabitat use. Specifically, small direct-developing frogs in the Strabomantidae family
appear to be at highest risk of thermal stress while tree frogs (Hylidae) and narrow mouthed
frogs (Microhylidae) tolerate higher temperatures. While CTmax and CTmin had considerable
variation within and among families, both critical thermal traits exhibited similar rates of evolutionary change. Our results suggest that 4% of lowland rainforest frogs assessed will
experience temperatures exceeding their CTmax, 25% might be moderately affected and
70% are unlikely to experience pronounced heat stress under a hypothetical 3˚C temperature increase.
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PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science)
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Journal article
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Open Access
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