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Field-Based Thermal Physiology Assay: Cold Shock Recovery under Ambient Conditions
Published on: March 9, 2021
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Climate change, climatic variation and extreme biological responses
Georgina Palmer1, Philip J Platts2, Tom Brereton3
1Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK georgina.palmer@york.ac.uk.
Summary
Extreme climatic events drive individualistic species population changes, with crashes more frequent than explosions. These individualistic responses do not yet dominate long-term population trends for widespread species.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Biodiversity Science
- Climate Change Biology
Background:
- Extreme climatic events can significantly impact biodiversity.
- The relationship between extreme climate events, extreme biological changes, and long-term population trends remains unclear.
- Understanding species-specific responses to climate variability is crucial for predicting biodiversity dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether extreme biological changes are individualistic.
- To determine if extreme population changes are associated with unusual climatic events.
- To assess the importance of extreme population changes in driving long-term population trends.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of population time series for 238 widespread species (207 Lepidoptera, 31 birds) in England from 1968 to 2011.
- Identification and quantification of extreme population changes (crashes and explosions).
- Statistical analysis to link extreme biological events with climatic variability and long-term population trends.
Main Results:
- Population crashes were 46% more frequent than population explosions across the studied species.
- Extreme population changes were largely individualistic, with different species experiencing extremes in different years.
- A link was found between climatically extreme years and 'consensus years' of widespread extreme population changes, though not all extreme climate years triggered this.
- The impact of extreme population changes on long-term trends was minimal for Lepidoptera and modest for birds.
Conclusions:
- Extreme biological responses to environmental variability are primarily individualistic, not synchronized across species.
- While extreme climate events can trigger widespread extreme population responses, these events have not yet dominated the long-term population trends of most widespread species.
- Species-specific dynamics, influenced by short-term climatic variability, appear to be the norm for extreme population fluctuations.
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