Question

Explain why organisms that have a narrow temperature tolerance range will be more susceptible to climate change.
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Answer 1

Organisms with a narrow temperature tolerance — often called thermal specialists — can survive and reproduce only within a small range of temperatures, so even modest climate-driven warming or increased temperature variability can push them beyond their physiological limits. When temperatures move outside that safe window, their metabolic processes, growth, reproduction and immune function suffer, increasing stress, mortality and reducing population growth. Because these species are often adapted to specific habitats or microclimates and may have limited dispersal ability or low genetic variation, they cannot easily move to or evolve tolerance for more suitable conditions. Climate change also alters the timing of seasons and the distributions of predators, competitors and diseases, creating additional mismatches that specialists are less able to tolerate. For these reasons, species with narrow thermal tolerances face a much higher risk of local decline or extinction as the climate changes.