Collaborative Research: LiT: Vulnerability of Tropical Ectotherms to Climate Warming

气候变暖的生物影响在中高纬度地区有很好的记录，那里变暖相对较快。然而，最近的理论模型预测，热带冷血物种(称为外温动物)，如植物、昆虫、爬行动物、鱼类，也容易受到气候变暖的影响，尽管热带气候变暖相对缓慢。测试热带外温带是否受到影响的一种直接方法是将当前的生理和生态数据与最近变暖之前收集的历史数据进行比较。因此，通过复制历史研究，可以检测到可能已经与最近的气候变暖平行发生的生理和生态变化。波多黎各是进行此类比较的理想地点。在20世纪70年代和80年代(在最近变暖之前)，人们对Anolis蜥蜴的生理、繁殖和生态进行了广泛的基线研究。没有任何热带外温带的可比数据集。自这些基线研究以来，波多黎各已经变暖，预计将进一步变暖。模拟预测，这些较温暖的温度本应在夏季引起森林Anolis种群的热应激，但实际上在冬季增加了繁殖。为了验证这些预测，将重新访问基线研究地点，并对繁殖率、身体和环境温度以及喂养成功率进行量化，并与25-30年前收集的平行数据进行比较。进行原始研究的研究人员将重复他们自己的研究：因此，几十年之间的比较不会受到研究人员之间的差异的影响。研究的更广泛的影响：如果这些研究证明热带外温带确实容易受到气候变暖的影响，那么其生态、农业和经济影响是严重的，因为热带地区是地球生物多样性的中心和初级生产力的主要引擎。在许多热带栖息地，爬行动物和两栖动物是食物链的关键组成部分，它们的丧失可能会导致热带社区的灾难性变化。该项目将为来自五所大学或学院的本科生和研究生提供田间生态学和生理学方面的培训。代表不足的少数族裔将从波多黎各大学(本科生、毕业生)和拉瓜迪亚社区学院(NYC)招聘，这两所大学主要招收少数族裔本科生。将从女子学院巴纳德学院招收本科生。对大学前教师和学生的宣传将是该项目的一个重要组成部分，将通过与纽约州STEM倡议、俄亥俄州立STEM学习网络和美国自然历史博物馆等组织建立联系来进行。波多黎各大学的公开研讨会将使项目研究人员、波多黎各科学家和学生能够互动并分享研究想法和成果。新一代野外工作者将得到指导：他们有可能在未来几十年复制这些研究，从而保持热带外温带对气候变暖的生理和生态反应的这种独特的时间序列。

Biological impacts of climate warming are well documented at mid- to high latitudes, where warming is relatively rapid. However, recent theoretical models predict that tropical coldblooded species (called ectotherms), such as plants, insects, reptiles, fish, are also vulnerable to warming, even though tropical warming is relatively slow. An immediate way to test whether tropical ectotherms are being affected involves comparing current physiological and ecological data with historical data gathered prior to recent warming. Thus, by replicating historical studies, physiological and ecological changes that may have already occurred in parallel with recent climate warming can be detected. Puerto Rico is the ideal venue for such comparisons. In the 1970s and 1980s (prior to recent warming), extensive baseline studies were made of the physiology, reproduction, and ecology of Anolis lizards. No comparable data sets exist for any tropical ectotherm. Puerto Rico has warmed since those baseline studies and is projected to warm more. Simulations predict that these warmer temperatures should have induced heat stress in forest Anolis populations in the summer, but actually increased reproduction during the winter. To test these predictions, baseline study sites will be revisited, and reproductive rates, body and environmental temperatures, and feeding success will be quantified and compared to parallel data collected 25-30 years ago. The investigators who did the original studies will replicate their own studies: thus comparisons between decades will not be influenced by between-investigator differences.Broader impacts of the Research: If these studies document that tropical ectotherms are indeed vulnerable to climate warming, the ecological, agricultural, and economic implications are serious because the tropics are the earth's center of biodiversity and its main engine of primary productivity. In many tropical habitats, reptiles and amphibians are key component of the food web and their loss may precipitate catastrophic changes in tropical communities. The project will provide training in field ecology and physiology to undergraduate and graduate students from five universities or colleges. Under-represented minorities will be recruited from the Universityof Puerto Rico (undergraduates, graduates) and from LaGuardia Community College (NYC), both of which enroll largely minority undergraduate populations. Undergraduate women will be recruited from Barnard College, a women's college. Outreach to pre-college teachers and students will be an important component of the project and will take place through established connections with organizations such as the New York State STEM Initiative, the Ohio State STEM Learning Network, and the American Museum of Natural History. A public symposium at the University of Puerto Rico will enable project researchers, Puerto Rican scientists, and students to interact and share research ideas and results. A new generation of field workers will be mentored: they can potentially replicate these studies in future decades and thus maintain this unique time series of physiological and ecological responses of tropical ectotherms to climate warming.