Acclimation means the ability of both animals and plants to adjust their physiology when it gets hotter or colder. In this way, individual organs are able to interact effectively and various processes in the body function optimally in varying conditions.
Acclimation means the ability of both animals and plants to adjust their physiology when it gets hotter or colder. In this way, individual organs are able to interact effectively and various processes in the body function optimally in varying conditions.
The common perception has long been that animals and plants that live near the Earth’s poles are best at acclimating. This assumption was based on the idea that they have the most to gain from acclimating, due to the large fluctuations in temperature between summer and winter in these regions.
Now this picture is being challenged by new research findings that demonstrate the opposite. Acclimation is most beneficial at intermediate, temperate latitudes. In Europe, this area corresponds to the regions between southern Spain and northern Germany.
“Seasonal temperature changes are quite marked at intermediate latitudes, but they happen relatively slowly. In this type of climate zone, acclimation is the most effective, as acclimation is often quite a slow process”, says Viktor Nilsson-Örtman, a biologist at Lund University in Sweden.
Read more at Lund University
Image: Viktor Nilsson-Örtman
