Global warming is occurring at an alarming rate and predictions are that air temperature (T a) will continue to increase during this century. Increases in T a as a result of unabated production of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere pose a threat to the distribution and abundance of wildlife populations worldwide. Although all the animals worldwide will likely be affected by global warming, diurnal animals in the deserts will be particularly threatened in the future because T as are already high, and animals have limited access to water. It is expected that Saudi Arabia will experience a 3-5 °C in T a over the next century. For predicting the consequences of global warming for animals, it is important to understand how individual species will respond to higher air temperatures. We think that populations will not have sufficient time to make evolutionary adjustments to higher T a, and therefore they will be forced to alter their distribution patterns, or make phenotypic adjustments in their ability to cope with high T a. This report examines how increases in T a might affect body temperature (T b) in the animals of arid regions. We chose three taxonomic groups, mammals, birds, and reptiles (Arabian oryx, Arabian spiny-tailed lizard, vultures, and hoopoe larks) from Saudi Arabia, an area in which T a often reaches 45 °C during midday in summer. When T a exceeds T b, animals must resort to behavioral and physiological methods to control their T b; failure to do so results in death. The observations of this study show that in many cases T b is already close to the upper lethal limit of around 47° C in these species and therefore allowing their T b to increase as T a increases are not an option. We conclude that global warming will have a detrimental impact on a wide range of desert animals, but in reality we know little about the ability of most animals to cope with change in T a. The data presented should serve as base-line information on T b of animals in the Kingdom for future scientists in Saudi Arabia as they explore the impact of global warming on animal species.

译文

全球变暖正在以惊人的速度发生,据预测,本世纪气温 (T a) 将继续升高。由于大气中温室气体的不断增加,T a的增加对全世界野生动植物种群的分布和数量构成了威胁。尽管全球所有动物都可能受到全球变暖的影响,但由于T as已经很高,并且动物获得水的机会有限,因此将来沙漠中的昼夜动物将受到特别威胁。预计沙特阿拉伯在下个世纪将经历3-5 °C的温度。为了预测全球变暖对动物的影响,重要的是要了解单个物种如何应对较高的气温。我们认为,种群将没有足够的时间对较高的T a进行进化调整,因此他们将被迫改变其分布模式,或对其应对高T a的能力进行表型调整。本报告研究了T a的增加如何影响干旱地区动物的体温 (T b)。我们从沙特阿拉伯选择了三个分类学类别,即哺乳动物,鸟类和爬行动物 (阿拉伯羚羊,阿拉伯刺尾蜥蜴,秃鹫和云雀),该地区的夏季正午温度通常达到45 °C。当T a超过T b时,动物必须诉诸行为和生理方法来控制其T b; 否则会导致死亡。这项研究的观察结果表明,在许多情况下,这些物种的T b已经接近47 °c左右的致死上限,因此,随着T a的增加,允许其T b增加是不可行的。我们得出结论,全球变暖将对各种沙漠动物产生不利影响,但实际上,我们对大多数动物应对T a变化的能力知之甚少。所提供的数据应作为沙特阿拉伯未来科学家在探索全球变暖对动物物种的影响时,作为沙特阿拉伯动物T b的基线信息。

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