AfterTek

Scientists have stated that global warming will hit the poles hard – but what they didn’t take into account was the threat it would have on animals that live in the tropics. These animals are used to living in minimal temperature range and scientists are afraid that even a few degrees change in that temperature will leave them unable to handle the change and may be life-threatening to them.

“There’s a strong relationship between your physiology and the climate you live in. In the tropics many species appear to be living at or near their thermal optimum, a temperature that lets them thrive. But once temperature gets above the thermal optimum, fitness levels most likely decline quickly and there may not be much they can do about it,” Joshua J. Tewksbury – leader of the research - said in a statement.

The fact that polar bears have not been affected by the temperature change means that they are able to cope with it because there are often severe changes in temperature. However, in the tropics there is very little temperature changes – which does not allow for the animals to adapt.

“The direct effects of climate change on the organisms we studied appear to depend a lot more on the organisms’ flexibility than on the amount of warming predicted for where they live,” Tewksbury said. “The tropical species in our data were mostly thermal specialists, meaning that their current climate is nearly ideal and any temperature increases will spell trouble for them.”