Print PageTo understand the effects of temperature on biological systems, we compile, organize, and analyze a database of 1,072 thermal responses for microbes, plants, and animals. These responses range over 66°C and represent 112 traits, diverse taxa (309 species), and span 15 orders of magnitude in body size. Our unprecedented diversity and number of traits, species, and habitats allows us to identify and quantify novel features of the temperature response of biological traits.
Results/Conclusions
In particular, analysis of the rising component of within-species (intraspecific) responses reveals that 87% are well fit by the Boltzmann-Arrhenius model. The mean activation energy for these rises is 0.66±0.05 eV, similar to the reported across-species (interspecific) value of 0.65 eV. However, systematic variation in the distribution of activation energies is evident, including previously unrecognized right-skewness. This right-skewness exists across levels of organization, taxa, trophic groups, and habitats. This skewness can be partially explained by a thermal version of the life-dinner principle—stronger selection to run for your life than to run for your dinner. For unimodal responses, habitat (marine, freshwater, or terrestrial) largely explains the mean temperature at which trait values are optimal but not the variation around this mean. The distribution of activation energies for trait falls has a mean of 1.15±0.39 eV (higher than for the rises) and is also right-skewed. Our results highlight generalities and deviations in the thermal response of biological traits and help provide a basis to better predict how biological systems, from cells to communities, respond to temperature change.
