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Opportunities for behavioral rescue under rapid environmental change
Samuel B Fey1, David A Vasseur2, Karla Alujević3
1Department of Biology, Reed College, Portland, Oregon.
Global Change Biology
|June 1, 2019
Summary
Behavioral adjustments can help ectotherms survive climate change by utilizing microclimates. This study introduces a framework showing how behavioral buffering can reduce extinction risk, especially in warming environments.
Area of Science:
- Ecology and evolutionary biology
- Climate change biology
- Physiological ecology
Background:
- Laboratory tolerance data often overestimate climate change risks for species.
- Species can use microclimatic variations through behavioral adjustments.
- Predictive models struggle with the complex nature of microclimate utilization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a framework for estimating climate change impacts on ectotherm fitness.
- To incorporate behavioral thermoregulation into extinction risk models.
- To investigate the role of behavioral buffering and rescue in mitigating climate change effects.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a benefit/cost trade-off model based on thermal performance curves and cost functions.
- Applied the framework to fine-scale operative temperature and physiological data from an African lizard.
- Analyzed a global dataset of 38 insect species to assess geographic differences.
Main Results:
- Warming can reduce the costs of behavioral thermoregulation in some environments.
- Behavioral buffering and "behavioral rescue" can mitigate negative climate change impacts.
- New behavioral opportunities may emerge with warming, influencing extinction risk.
Conclusions:
- Understanding thermal characteristics is crucial for accurate extinction risk projections.
- Behavioral thermoregulation plays a significant role in species' responses to climate change.
- The developed framework improves predictions of climate change impacts on ectotherm populations.
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