Open habitats increase vulnerability of amphibian tadpoles to climate warming across latitude

Abstract

Aim Global warming and deforestation are pushing species closer to their physiological limit, especially for species with habitat-restricted life stages because sunlit areas have higher maximum temperatures. Here, we examined the critical thermal maximum (CTmax), and maximum environmental water temperature (T-max) of larvae from 29 anuran species across a latitudinal gradient (22-43 degrees N) to test how latitude and habitat type (open or closed-forest ponds) affected warming tolerance, an index of vulnerability to climate change. Location Taiwan, Korea, Japan. Time period Present. Major taxa studied Anurans. Results We showed that topen ponds lowered warming tolerance, regardless of latitude and phylogenetic clustering, contrasting the established literature that warming tolerance is lower at tropical latitudes, which only applied to species in forest ponds in this study. Importantly, biophysical models at the local scale suggest that increasing deforestation will exacerbate the effects of climate warming on warming tolerance. Main conclusions Local effects of accelerated warming and habitat modification mean that species with range-restricted life stages will become more vulnerable to anthropogenic change.