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Extreme escalation of heat failure rates in ectotherms with global warming

Abstract

Temperature affects the rate of all biochemical processes in ectotherms1,2 and is therefore critical for determining their current and future distribution under global climate change3,4,5. Here we show that the rate of biological processes maintaining growth, homeostasis and ageing in the permissive temperature range increases by 7% per degree Celsius (median activation energy Ea = 0.48 eV from 1,351 rates across 314 species). By contrast, the processes underlying heat failure rate within the stressful temperature range are extremely temperature sensitive, such that heat failure increases by more than 100% per degree Celsius across a broad range of taxa (median Ea = 6.13 eV from 123 rates across 112 species). The extreme thermal sensitivity of heat failure rates implies that the projected increase in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves can exacerbate heat mortality for many ectothermic species with severe and disproportionate consequences. Combining the extreme thermal sensitivities with projected increases in maximum temperatures globally6, we predict that moderate warming scenarios can increase heat failure rates by 774% (terrestrial) and 180% (aquatic) by 2100. This finding suggests that we are likely to underestimate the potential impact of even a modest global warming scenario.

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Fig. 1: Disparate temperature sensitivities for the lifespan of an ectotherm reveal permissive and stressful temperature domains.
Fig. 2: Thermal sensitivity of biological processes sustaining life in the permissive temperature range or causing heat death in the stressful temperature range.
Fig. 3: Projected increase in heat failure rate with climate warming.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are available online55.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues at the Section for Zoophysiology, Aarhus University for the many discussions on temperature biology of animals. This work was funded by The Danish Council for Independent Research—Natural Sciences (to J.O.) and The Danish Council for Independent Research—Technology and Production Sciences (to M.Ø.).

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Contributions

L.B.J., M.Ø. and J.O. conceptualized the study and all of the authors participated in its design. L.B.J., M.Ø., H.M. and J.O. collected the data and performed the analysis. L.B.J. curated the data. L.B.J., M.Ø., T.W. and J.O. wrote and visualized the original draft, and all of the authors contributed to the review and editing of the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Johannes Overgaard.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Current and projected change in mean and maximum temperature under climate warming.

a, Current mean annual temperature described by BIO1 or SSTmean for terrestrial and aquatic environments, respectively. b, Current maximum temperature described by BIO5 or SSTmax for terrestrial and aquatic environments, respectively. (a, b) share the legend immediately below. c–d, Projected change in (c) mean annual temperature and (d) maximum temperature under the SSP1-2.6 scenario. e–f, Projected change in (e) mean annual temperature and (f) maximum temperature under the SSP2-4.5 scenario. g–h, Projected change in (g) mean annual temperature and (h) maximum temperature under the SSP5-8.5 scenarios. (c–h) share the bottom legend and the future period is 2081-2100 for terrestrial environments and 2090-2100 for aquatic environments, as they appear in WorldClim 2.149 and Bio-ORACLE 2.053,54, respectively. White areas indicate that temperature data were not available.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Projected increase in biological rates of permissive processes under climate warming.

Increase in biological rates (in %) of permissive processes for both terrestrial (Ea = 0.57 eV) and aquatic species (Ea = 0.44 eV) resulting from changes in annual mean temperature under the (a) SSP1-2.6, (b) SSP2-4.5 and (c) SSP5-8.5 scenario. The future period is 2081-2100 for terrestrial environments and 2090-2100 for aquatic environments, as they appear in WorldClim 2.149 and Bio-ORACLE 2.053,54, respectively. White areas indicate that temperature data were not available to calculate the increase in biological rate.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Risk of exposure to environmental temperatures above Tc for Pheidole megacephala.

Global risk analysis evaluating exposure to environmental (air) temperatures beyond the critical temperature Tc (separating the permissive and stressful temperature range, here calculated as the temperature causing heat failure in 24 h) in current and future climates (2081-2100, SSP2-4.5). Occurrence locations in the global distribution of P. megacephala are coloured according to the comparison of Tc to maximal air temperature (Tair max). Grey, Tc > Tair max in current and future climates; red, Tc < Tair max in the future climate scenarios; maroon, Tc < Tair max in the current climate. Occurrence records were aggregated to 184 km cells for increased visibility, and a section of the distribution found in Southern Africa is shown in Fig. 3b, with slight discrepancies due to different spatial resolutions of occupied cells.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Projected increase in heat failure rates under climate warming.

Increase in heat failure rates (in %) for both terrestrial (Ea = 5.53 eV) and aquatic species (Ea = 6.69 eV) resulting from changes in maximum temperature under the (a) SSP1-2.6, (b) SSP2-4.5 and (c) SSP5-8.5 scenario. The future period is 2081-2100 for terrestrial environments and 2090-2100 for aquatic environments, as they appear in WorldClim 2.149 and Bio-ORACLE 2.053,54, respectively. White areas indicate that temperature data were not available to calculate the heat failure rate increase.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Summary of increases in heat failure rate across latitudes.

Boxplots of terrestrial and aquatic heat failure rates under the SSP2-4.5 warming scenario across five latitudinal clines summarizing the results reported in Extended Data Fig. 4b. The boxplot midline represents the median, the lower and upper line of the box represents the 1st and 3rd quartile, respectively (with whiskers extending up to 1.5 times this range), outliers not shown.

Extended Data Table 1 Overview of the species used for the representative rates in Fig. 2a,c
Extended Data Table 2 Source of spatial data in the terrestrial and aquatic environment

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Jørgensen, L.B., Ørsted, M., Malte, H. et al. Extreme escalation of heat failure rates in ectotherms with global warming. Nature 611, 93–98 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05334-4

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