School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA.
Biol Lett. 2021 Mar;17(3):20200813. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0813. Epub 2021 Mar 24.
Rapid climate change across the globe is having dramatic effects on wildlife. Responses of organisms to shifting thermal conditions often include physiological and behavioural accommodations, but to date these have been largely viewed and studied as naturally evolved phenomena (e.g. heat avoidance, sweating, panting) and not necessarily as strategies where animals exploit other anthropogenic conditions or resources. Moreover, the degree to which native versus introduced species show thermal plasticity has generated much conservation and ecological interest. We previously have observed introduced rosy-faced lovebirds () perching in the relief-air vents on building faces in the Phoenix, Arizona, USA, metropolitan area, but doing so only during summer. Here, we show that such vent-perching events are significantly associated with extreme outdoor summer temperatures (when daily local highs routinely exceed 40°C). In fact, the temperature threshold at which we detected lovebirds starting to perch in cool air vents mirrors the upper range of the thermoneutral zone for this species. These results implicate novel, facultative use of an anthropogenic resource-industrial air-conditioning systems-by a recently introduced species (within the last 35 years) to cool down and survive extremely hot conditions in this urban 'heat-island' environment.
全球范围内的快速气候变化对野生动物产生了巨大的影响。生物对不断变化的热条件的反应通常包括生理和行为上的适应，但迄今为止，这些反应主要被视为自然进化的现象（例如，避免高温、出汗、喘气），而不一定是动物利用其他人为条件或资源的策略。此外，本土物种和引入物种表现出热可塑性的程度引起了人们对保护和生态学的极大兴趣。我们之前曾观察到引进的玫瑰脸爱情鸟在美国亚利桑那州凤凰城大都市区的建筑物表面的通风口栖息，但只在夏季这样做。在这里，我们表明，这种通风口栖息事件与极端的夏季户外高温（当当地每日高温通常超过 40°C 时）显著相关。事实上，我们检测到爱情鸟开始在凉爽的通风口栖息的温度阈值反映了该物种的舒适区上限。这些结果表明，一种最近引入的物种（在过去的 35 年里）在这个城市“热岛”环境中利用了一种新颖的、兼性的人为资源——工业空调系统，以降低和适应极热的条件。
