Fundamentos

de Ecologia

Source Molles, Manuel C., Jr., (2016)

Ecology : concepts and applications /
Manuel C. Molles, Jr., University of New
Mexico. —Seventh edition. ISBN 978-0-07-
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
783728-0
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
• Temperature is one of the most ecologically significant environmental factors;
• Many organisms have evolved varied mechanisms for regulating the temperature of their
bodies or the temperature of parts of their anatomy;
• Long-term changes in temperature have set entire floras and faunas marching across
continents, some species thriving, some holding on in small refuges, and others becoming
extinct;
• Responses of species to recent climate warming, including earlier spring migrations, earlier
reproduction, extensions of geographic ranges toward the poles, and altitudinal ranges up
mountainsides. Some of these responses can be attributed to phenotypic plasticity. However,
many studies indicate rapid adaptation to the warming climate through natural selection.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
• Macroclimate interacts with the local landscape to produce microclimatic variation in
temperature:
• Macroclimate is what weather stations report and what we represented with climate
diagrams;
• Microclimate is climatic variation on a scale of a few kilometers, meters, or even
centimeters, usually measured over short periods of time (Microclimate is influenced by
landscape features such as altitude, aspect, vegetation, color of the ground, and
presence of boulders. The physical nature of water and soil reduces temperature
variation in aquatic environments and in animal burrows).

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Microclimates
Altitude
• Topographic features such as hills, mountains, and valleys create microclimates that would not
occur in a flat landscape. Mountains and hillsides create these microclimates by shading parts
of the land;
• The northern and southern aspects of mountains and valleys offer organisms contrasting
microclimates, which may support very different types of vegetation.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Microclimates
Color of the Ground
Ground color influences microclimate. For example, white
sand reflects most wavelengths of visible light, creating a
much cooler microclimate compared to black sand, which
absorbs most wavelengths of visible light.
Presence of Boulders and Burrows
Animal burrows also have their own microclimates, in
which temperatures are usually more moderate than at
the soil surface.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Microclimates
Aquatic Temperatures
• The thermal stability of the aquatic environment derives partly from the high capacity of water to absorb heat energy
without changing temperature (a capacity called specific heat );
• A second cause of the thermal stability of aquatic environments is the large amount of heat absorbed by water as it
evaporates (which is called the latent heat of vaporization);
• A third cause of the greater thermal stability of aquatic environments is the heat energy that water gives up to its
environment as it freezes (the latent heat of fusion);
• The aquatic environments with greatest thermal stability are generally large ones, such as the open sea. These are
environments that store large quantities of heat energy and where daily fluctuations are often less than 1 8 C. Even the
temperatures of small streams, however, usually fluctuate less than the temperatures of nearby terrestrial habitats.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Microclimates
Aquatic Temperatures
• Other factors besides the physics of water can affect the
temperature of aquatic environments. Riparian
vegetation, that is, vegetation that grows along rivers
and streams, influences the temperature in streams in
the same way that vegetation modifies the temperature
of desert soils—by providing shade

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Temperature and Performance of
Organisms
• Most species perform best in a fairly narrow range of
temperatures (e.g., enzyme function);
• Extreme Temperatures and Photosynthesis (the
influence of temperature on rate of photosynthesis by a
moss from the boreal forest, Pleurozium schreberi, and a
desert shrub, Atriplex lentiformis / the moss lives in the
cool boreal forests of Finland, the study population of
the desert shrub, A. lentiformis, lives near Thermal,
California, in one of the hottest deserts on earth);

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Temperature and Performance of Organisms
• Plant responses to temperature, as well as those of animals, can also reflect the short-term physiological adjustments
called acclimation. Acclimation involves physiological, not genetic, changes in response to temperature; acclimation
is generally reversible with changes in environmental conditions;

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Temperature and Performance of Organisms
Temperature and Microbial Activity
• there is liquid water, from the frigid waters around the Antarctic to boiling hot springs:
• psychrophilic, marine bacteria that live in the waters around Antarctica;
• thermophilic, microbes grow at temperatures above 40 ºC in a variety of environments. The most heat-loving
microbes are the hyperthermophiles, which have temperature optima above 80 ºC;

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
• Many organisms have evolved ways to compensate for
variations in environmental temperature by regulating
body temperature;

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
• (don’t) The body temperature of these organisms, called poikilotherms, varies directly with environmental
temperatures;
• Animals that rely mainly on external sources of energy for regulating body temperature are called ectotherms;
• Organisms that rely heavily on internally derived metabolic heat energy, are called endotherms. Among endotherms,
birds and mammals use metabolic energy to heat most of their bodies. Other endothermic animals, including certain
fish and insects, use metabolic energy to selectively heat critical organs. Endotherms that use metabolic energy to
maintain a relatively constant body temperature are called homeotherms. The only homeothermic organisms are birds
and mammals.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
Temperature Regulation by Plants

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
Temperature Regulation by Plants

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
Temperature Regulation by
Ectothermic Animals
Like plants, the vast majority of animals, including fish,
amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates of all sorts, use
external sources of energy to regulate body temperature.
These ectothermic animals use means analogous to those
used by plants, including variations in body size, shape, and
pigmentation. The obvious difference between plants and
ectothermic animals is that the animals have more options
for using behavior to thermoregulate.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
Temperature Regulation by
Endothermic Animals
The range of environmental temperatures over which the
metabolic rate of a homeothermic animal does not change is
called its thermal neutral zone. When environmental
temperatures are within the thermal neutral zone of an
inactive endothermic animal, its metabolic rate stays steady
at resting metabolism. However, if the environmental
temperature falls below or rises above the thermal neutral
zone, an endotherm’s metabolic rate will rapidly increase to
two or even three times resting metabolism.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
Countercurrent heat exchange
in dolphin flippers promotes
conservation of body heat

Countercurrent heat
exchange in the lateral
muscles of bluefin
tuna.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
Temperature Regulation
by Thermogenic Plants
Almost all plants are poikilothermic ectotherms.
However, plants in the family Araceae have the unusual habit of using metabolic energy to heat their flowers. Some of the
temperate species in this mostly tropical family use this ability to protect their inflorescences from freezing and to attract
pollinators. How does the skunk cabbage fuel the heating of its inflorescence? It has a large root in which it stores large
quantities of starch. Some of this starch is translocated to the inflorescence, where it is metabolized at a high rate, generating
large quantities of heat in the process. This heat, besides keeping the inflorescence from freezing, may help attract pollinators.
Various pollinators are attracted to both the warmth and the sweetish scent given off by the plant

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Temperature Relations
Regulating Body Temperature
Surviving Extreme Temperatures
• Many organisms survive extreme temperatures by entering a resting stage;
• Inactivity;
• Reducing Metabolic Rate;
• Hibernation by a Tropical Species (The fat-tailed dwarf lemur, Cheirogaleus
medius, inhabits tropical dry forests in western Madagascar, where it
hibernates through most of the dry season);

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro
SUMMARY:
• Macroclimate interacts with the local landscape to produce microclimatic variation in
temperature;
• Adapting to one set of environmental conditions generally reduces a population’s
fitness in other environments;
• Most species perform best in a fairly narrow range of temperatures;
• Many organisms have evolved ways to compensate for variations in environmental
temperature by regulating body temperature;
• Many organisms survive extreme temperatures by entering a resting stage.

Fundamentos de Ecologia
Ulisses M Azeiteiro