Rising temperatures could make some species sterile and see them succumb to the effects of climate change earlier than currently thought, scientists at the University of Liverpool warn.
Rising temperatures could make some species sterile and see them succumb to the effects of climate change earlier than currently thought, scientists at the University of Liverpool warn.
“There is a risk that we are underestimating the impact of climate change on species survival because we have focused on the temperatures that are lethal to organisms, rather than the temperatures at which organisms can no longer breed,” explains Dr Tom Price from the University’s Institute of Integrative Biology.
Currently, biologists and conservationists are trying to predict where species will be lost due to climate change, so they can build suitable reserves in the locations they will eventually need to move to. However, most of the data on when temperature will prevent species surviving in an area is based on the ‘critical thermal limit’ or CTL – the temperature at which they collapse, stop moving or die.
Read more at University of Liverpool
Image: Examples of organisms that may be particularly at risk of losing fertility due to high temperatures. All photographs are licensed under CC BY 2.0. CREDITS: Joaquim Alves Gaspar, Charles Sharp, Toby Hudson, and David Glass.
