THERMAL SENSITIVITY TO GLOBAL WARMING OF ANURAN TADPOLES IN THE MONTE DESERT: CURRENT STATE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

SANABRIA, E. A.; GORDILLO, L; IRIBAS, F.; ARAGON, J.; QUIROGA, L.

San Juan

Congreso; Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2023

SBC

Global anthropogenic change is causing an increase in average and extreme temperatures (heat waves) at an accelerated rate, which hasimportant ecological implications. In recent years, science has focused on the effects of global warming on organisms. Currently the studytrends focus on distribution modeling (macro scale), physiological studies (micro scale) and a combination of both, evaluating and predictingorganisms’ responses to global warming. As ectotherms, amphibian tadpoles are no exception, and are strongly influenced by environmentalthermal changes. Currently, it is postulated that organisms near the tropics will be affected, to a greater extent, due to lower acclimatizationcapability, impact on higher latitudes will depend on the organisms’ phenology and its environment. In this context, we present a compendiumof the possible impacts of future global warming on tadpoles in the Monte Desert. We detect that so called conservative scenarios are notrealistic enough to determine impacts on amphibian tadpoles and may not be suitable for ectotherms in general. For a better approach otherstressors such as commonly used agrochemicals should be included. Therefore, we propose that new efforts to model climate change impactshould be multi-target. Correlative macro climatic models (classic approach) should include physiological traits as well as other environmentalvariables such as pollutants (pesticides and other chemical agent), changes in humidity, among others. The combination of these data will giveus more robust, dynamic and realistic predictive models, which can be used as a solid tools for impact assessment.