Comments on: Tropical Animals May Get a Dangerous Metabolic Jolt From Climate Change

By: Al

Al — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:17:50 +0000

What type of lizard is that in the picture?

By: Rhacodactylus

Rhacodactylus — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 06:59:53 +0000

Hmm, interesting, I understand the concern but I guess I agree with the authors in that I would love to see how real creatures deal with the issue. For Jackaira, as I understand it tropical creatures will be dealing with the most subtle changes in climate, so maritime desert climates are . . . less than applicable, but I do take your point and thank you for your response. As far as Zachary goes, I need you to watch this, as you clearly aren't focusing on the basic science. ~Rhaco

By: Jennifer Welsh

Jennifer Welsh — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:28:41 +0000

@ Rhaco,
The Science News story actually mentioned that as a caveat. Here is what they said:

“Dillon cautions that plenty of real ectotherms have some ability to moderate their temperatures through behavior, such as darting under rocks to escape the sun. These measures have limits though, especially for small creatures, and actual biology — not just temperature — needs investigating.” (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/64045/title/A_little_climate_change_goes_a_long_way_in_the_tropics).

Basically, they need to do more experiments to see if their model is correct in real-life scenarios. Thanks for the explanation @Jockaira!

Thanks for reading and commenting!
Jen

By: Jockaira

Jockaira — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:17:15 +0000

~Rhaco

Lizards etc. CAN move from sun to shade to help maintain body temperature but they CANNOT move out of the ambient air temperature which also has a great effect on soil temperature, one of the places they might go to in order to escape sun heat.

I live in a maritime desert environment, high temps (90-110F), high humidity (75-95 RH), and little relief at night, except during two months of winter in December and January (80 days-70 nights). Every morning about an hour after sunrise, the lizards etc. spend a few minutes in the sun warming up. They disappear for the rest of the day, coming out only to grab a quick snack, and then only for the brief time it takes to grab a bug or munch on a leaf.

When I water my garden, they enjoy it, at first taking a few laps of water then relaxing in the comparative coolness of the water, sometimes immersing themselves completely in small puddles until the sun starts the water to heat up.

With higher ambient temps and increased aridity (a positive feed-back loop), many of these creatures will probably become rare if not extinct. Other creatures predating on these species will also find it more difficult to survive…and so it goes.

By: Zachary

Zachary — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:49:13 +0000

I am saying global warming is acceptable, because the Earth naturally goes through warming and cooling periods. AGW is the most well-intentioned mistake. The science doesn’t support it, and it sadly takes the focus off the myriad ways we are in fact destroying the environment.

By: Rhacodactylus

Rhacodactylus — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 00:58:43 +0000

I think I'm missing something, don't most of these animals have behaviors in place to regulate their bodies thermally (e.g. moving from sun to shade, basking on rocks to heat up), is there a reason to think that this wouldn't be affective if there were an increase in temperature? I am in no way saying global warming is acceptable, just wondering about the specifics of this line of thought, thanks. ~Rhaco