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Mechanistic approaches to predicting climate change impacts on endotherms

The profound impacts of anthropogenic climate change on natural systems are rapidly becoming apparent, and recent decades have seen biologists investing considerable effort in the development of models predicting the responses of animals and other organisms. The development of mechanistic, process-based models incorporating physiological tolerance limits has progressed far more rapidly for ectotherms than has been the case for endotherms, in large measure because the body temperatures of ectotherms are far more tightly coupled to environmental temperatures than is the case for most endotherms.

The goal of this thematic series in Climate Change Responses is to synthesize cutting-edge approaches to predicting the responses of endotherms to climate change using mechanistic models that incorporate physiology, behaviour, and morphology.

  1. Endangered species management must now incorporate the potential effects of climate change, but this is often in the context of limited data. The endangered night parrot was recently rediscovered in the Austra...

    Authors: Michael R. Kearney, Warren P. Porter and Stephen A. Murphy
    Citation: Climate Change Responses 2016 3:14
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Climate imposes multiple selection pressures on animal morphology. Allen’s Rule proposes that geographic variation in the appendage size of endotherms, relative to body size, is linked to climatic variation, t...

    Authors: Janet L. Gardner, Matthew R. E. Symonds, Leo Joseph, Karen Ikin, John Stein and Loeske E. B. Kruuk
    Citation: Climate Change Responses 2016 3:11
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. In the face of climate change, the life history traits of large terrestrial mammals will prevent them from adapting genetically at a sufficient pace to keep track with changing environments, and habitat fragme...

    Authors: Andrea Fuller, Duncan Mitchell, Shane K. Maloney and Robyn S. Hetem
    Citation: Climate Change Responses 2016 3:10
    Content type: Review Published on:

  4. Temperature increases associated with climate change pose a substantial threat to arid-zone bird species. However, predicting vulnerability to high temperatures using species-specific, mechanistic data, and as...

    Authors: B. Smit, G. Zietsman, R. O. Martin, S. J. Cunningham, A. E. McKechnie and P. A. R. Hockey
    Citation: Climate Change Responses 2016 3:9
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Global climate change is expected to have strong effects on the world’s flora and fauna. As a result, there has been a recent increase in the number of meta-analyses and mechanistic models that attempt to pred...

    Authors: Danielle L. Levesque, Julia Nowack and Clare Stawski
    Citation: Climate Change Responses 2016 3:7
    Content type: Review Published on: