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 05 July 2008 03:28 BST

Global warming threatens tropical insects

Tuesday, 06 May 2008 12:23
This leaf beetle from Ecuador could be harmed by global warming

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Tropical species could suffer greatly from climate change, scientists have warned.

New research found that while temperature changes will be much more extreme at high latitudes, tropical species have a greater risk of extinction than other creatures with warming of just a degree or two.

This is because these species are used to living within a much smaller temperature range to begin with and once temperatures get beyond that range species might not be able to cope.

Arctic species however can experience temperatures ranging from subzero to 60F.

A team led by University of Washington (UW) scientists made the warning after studying daily and monthly global temperature records from 1950 to 2000.

They compared these to data describing the relationship between temperatures and fitness for a variety of temperate and tropical insect species, as well as frogs, lizards and turtles.

The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"There's a strong relationship between your physiology and the climate you live in," said Joshua Tewksbury, a UW assistant professor of biology.

"In the tropics many species appear to be living at or near their thermal optimum, a temperature that lets them thrive. But once temperature gets above the thermal optimum, fitness levels most likely decline quickly and there may not be much they can do about it."

Curtis Deutsch, an assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, added: "Many tropical species can only tolerate a narrow range of temperatures because the climate they experience is pretty constant throughout the year.

"Our calculations show that they will be harmed by rising temperatures more than would species in cold climates."
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