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Vulnerability to climate change increases with trophic level in terrestrial organisms
Carmen R B da Silva1, Julian E Beaman2, Jacob P Youngblood3
1Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.
The Science of the Total Environment
|December 22, 2022
Summary
Ecosystems face climate change threats. Species vulnerability varies by functional group, with primary producers most resilient and tertiary consumers least resilient, impacting ecosystem function globally.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Climate Change Biology
- Conservation Biology
Background:
- Ecosystem resilience to climate change depends on species' functional roles (e.g., decomposition, pollination).
- Understanding differential vulnerability across functional groups is crucial for predicting ecosystem responses to global warming.
- Species' thermal limits and geographic distribution data are key to assessing climate change vulnerability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if species in different functional groups exhibit varying vulnerability to climate change.
- To analyze how climate change vulnerability, measured by warming margins, varies geographically and with trophic level.
- To investigate the influence of evolutionary history and methodology on species' warming margins.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a dataset of upper thermal limits for 1701 terrestrial species.
- Calculated species warming margins (difference between thermal limit and maximum environmental temperature).
- Employed statistical analyses to assess relationships between warming margins, functional groups, latitude, and evolutionary history.
Main Results:
- Primary producers exhibited the widest warming margins (18.72°C), while tertiary consumers had the narrowest (9.64°C), indicating increased vulnerability with trophic level.
- Species warming margins showed a nonlinear relationship with absolute latitude, being narrowest around 33° latitude.
- Evolutionary history and the methods used to estimate thermal limits significantly explained variation in warming margins.
Conclusions:
- Vulnerability to climate change is not uniform across ecosystem functional groups, with higher trophic levels being more susceptible.
- Geographic location and evolutionary history are critical factors influencing species' resilience to warming.
- This research establishes a foundational link between individual species' climate change vulnerability and overall ecosystem function.
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