Abstract
The greater latitudinal extents of occurrence of species towards higher latitudes has been attributed to the broadening of physiological tolerances with latitude as a result of increases in climatic variation. While there is some support for such patterns in climate, the physiological tolerances of species across large latitudinal gradients have seldom been assessed. Here we report findings for insects based on published upper and lower lethal temperature data. The upper thermal limits show little geographical variation. In contrast, the lower bounds of supercooling points and lower lethal temperatures do indeed decline with latitude. However, this is not the case for the upper bounds, leading to an increase in the variation in lower lethal limits with latitude. These results provide some support for the physiological tolerance assumption associated with Rapoport's rule, but highlight the need for coupled data on species tolerances and range size.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (287.8 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Chown S. L., Jaco Klok C. Critical thermal limits, temperature tolerance and water balance of a sub-Antarctic caterpillar, Pringleophaga marioni (Lepidoptera: Tineidae). J Insect Physiol. 1997 Jul;43(7):685–694. doi: 10.1016/s0022-1910(97)00001-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chown S. L., Klok C. J. Interactions between desiccation resistance, host-plant contact and the thermal biology of a leaf-dwelling sub-antarctic caterpillar, Embryonopsis halticella (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae). J Insect Physiol. 1998 Jul;44(7-8):615–628. doi: 10.1016/s0022-1910(98)00052-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Feder M. E., Hofmann G. E. Heat-shock proteins, molecular chaperones, and the stress response: evolutionary and ecological physiology. Annu Rev Physiol. 1999;61:243–282. doi: 10.1146/annurev.physiol.61.1.243. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Goto S. G., Kimura M. T. Heat- and cold-shock responses and temperature adaptations in subtropical and temperate species of Drosophila. J Insect Physiol. 1998 Dec;44(12):1233–1239. doi: 10.1016/s0022-1910(98)00101-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kelty J. D., Lee R. E., Jr Induction of rapid cold hardening by cooling at ecologically relevant rates in Drosophila melanogaster. J Insect Physiol. 1999 Aug;45(8):719–726. doi: 10.1016/s0022-1910(99)00040-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Roy K., Jablonski D., Valentine J. W. Eastern Pacific molluscan provinces and latitudinal diversity gradient: no evidence for "Rapoport's rule". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Sep 13;91(19):8871–8874. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.19.8871. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Roy K., Jablonski D., Valentine J. W., Rosenberg G. Marine latitudinal diversity gradients: tests of causal hypotheses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Mar 31;95(7):3699–3702. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.7.3699. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Spicer J. Coping with managed care's administrative hassles. Fam Pract Manag. 1998 Mar;5(3):66-70, 73-4, 76-8. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Weiss W. P. Requirements of fat-soluble vitamins for dairy cows: a review. J Dairy Sci. 1998 Sep;81(9):2493–2501. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(98)70141-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zachariassen K. E. Physiology of cold tolerance in insects. Physiol Rev. 1985 Oct;65(4):799–832. doi: 10.1152/physrev.1985.65.4.799. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]