Animals live longer in colder climates

The colder the climate, the longer you live - if you're cold-blooded - a new study says.

This relationship between temperature and life can be significant for cold-blooded species in our warming world.

Stephan Munch and Santiago Salinas, both of Stony Brook University in New York, are very interested in the huge difference in life expectancy between two pearl groups. A group in Spain has a lifespan of 29 years, while another group in Russia can live up to 200 years.

Despite the fact that there is only a slight difference in latitude between these two groups - 43 north latitudes for the Spanish group and 66 North latitudes for the Russian group - researchers wonder if the difference The temperature difference in these two areas is the cause of the huge difference in the lifespan of these two species.

Munch said: 'While many people may argue that the adaptation or geographical variation in the abundance of food and predators is the cause of this disparity, we want to know whether the difference the life span geography that we see in many species has a physiological basis for temperature '.

Munch and Salinas look at age data from laboratories and practical observations of more than 90 times from land, freshwater and marine environments. There are many cold-blooded organisms involved in the study, including species with a lifespan of 11.6 days such as the scabbard Arcartia tonsa to the pearl species (Margaritifera margaritifera) with a life cycle of 74 years.

Their findings, published in the July 27 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that in many animals and many different habitats, temperatures are closely related to longevity - due to The cooler the climate is, the longer the lifespan of the animals than those that live in warmer temperatures.

Cold and older

This law is consistent with the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE), used to explain how life history, population, geography cycle and ecological processes balance with size. and animal body temperature.

Animals live longer in colder climates (Photo: germanys-exclusive-properties.com)

Salinas, a graduate student at Stony Brook, said: 'You can think of an animal as a cup in which a chemical reaction takes place. The rules that apply to liquids inside a test cup can also be applied to animals. Chemists talk about relationships like rising temperatures that will speed up the reaction process, and MTE borrows the idea of ​​that relationship and applies it to living things. '

Munch and Salinas found that the lifespan of 87% of the species they studied also varied as MTE predicted, so the species that lived in colder temperatures lived longer.

However, after eliminating the effects of temperature, there are still other changes in the life of a species, which indicates other factors (such as the abundance of food or the number of predators). still plays a role in determining the lifespan of different animal groups.

Meaning for the future

With warmer temperatures moving towards the polar regions, many species living in cold conditions will have to get used to warmer environments.

Salinas said: 'It is interesting to learn how cold-blooded species react to global warming. Because of the exponential relationship between temperature and life, small changes in temperature can lead to major changes in life expectancy. '

He added: 'We may see changes in the structure and stability of the ecosystem if cold-blooded species change their history to match warmer temperatures, while those of Hot blood doesn't do that. '

Another recent study found that warmer temperatures could create favorable conditions for organisms with small bodies, and could produce enormous ecological changes.