人們曾預測，生活在北半球中高緯度地區(qū)的生物受氣候變暖的影響可能最大,，因為那里的氣溫升高最快,。但是現(xiàn)在，Michael Dillon及其同事將聚光燈轉(zhuǎn)向了生活在熱帶的冷血動物（它們通過與其周圍環(huán)境交換熱量來調(diào)控其體溫）,。溫度上升對一種生物的生物學并沒有一個線性影響,，人們所估計的由變暖誘導的熱帶冷血動物代謝速度的變化，被發(fā)現(xiàn)在幅度上大于或等于在溫帶所觀察到的變化,。
這項工作在局部和全球都可能有深遠影響,，因為熱帶是初級生產(chǎn)力的一個重要引擎，在全球生物多樣性中占很大比例,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦英文摘要：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09407
Global metabolic impacts of recent climate warming
Michael E. Dillon,George Wang& Raymond B. Huey
Documented shifts in geographical ranges1, 2, seasonal phenology3, 4, community interactions5, genetics3, 6 and extinctions7 have been attributed to recent global warming8, 9, 10. Many such biotic shifts have been detected at mid- to high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere4, 9, 10—a latitudinal pattern that is expected4, 8, 10, 11 because warming is fastest in these regions8. In contrast, shifts in tropical regions are expected to be less marked4, 8, 10, 11 because warming is less pronounced there8. However, biotic impacts of warming are mediated through physiology, and metabolic rate, which is a fundamental measure of physiological activity and ecological impact, increases exponentially rather than linearly with temperature in ectotherms12. Therefore, tropical ectotherms (with warm baseline temperatures) should experience larger absolute shifts in metabolic rate than the magnitude of tropical temperature change itself would suggest, but the impact of climate warming on metabolic rate has never been quantified on a global scale. Here we show that estimated changes in terrestrial metabolic rates in the tropics are large, are equivalent in magnitude to those in the north temperate-zone regions, and are in fact far greater than those in the Arctic, even though tropical temperature change has been relatively small. Because of temperature’s nonlinear effects on metabolism, tropical organisms, which constitute much of Earth’s biodiversity, should be profoundly affected by recent and projected climate warming2, 13, 14.
