Organisms with a narrow temperature tolerance range are more susceptible to climate change because they can survive and perform well only within a limited temperature window. When global temperatures rise due to climate change, these organisms are more likely to be pushed beyond their thermal maxima or minima, leading to reduced fitness, performance decline, and potentially increased risk of extinction. They have less capacity to acclimate or adapt quickly to changing temperatures compared to species with broader temperature tolerance, making them more vulnerable to even small increases in temperature. Additionally, narrow temperature specialists often have restricted geographic ranges, which can further limit their ability to migrate to more suitable climates, increasing their extinction risk.
Key reasons include:
- Thermal safety margins for narrow-tolerance species are small, so slight warming leads to physiological stress or mortality.
- Limited physiological plasticity reduces their ability to adjust to new temperature regimes.
- Narrow tolerance often correlates with specialized ecological niches, increasing competition and vulnerability.
- Limited geographic distribution restricts movement to favorable conditions under warming scenarios.
Thus, organisms adapted to narrow temperature ranges face increased susceptibility to climate change as even modest shifts in temperature can exceed their survival thresholds and disrupt their ecological success.
