School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Magandjin (Brisbane) 4072, Queensland, Australia.
Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Dutton Park, Magandjin (Brisbane) 4102, Queensland, Australia.
J Exp Biol. 2024 Aug 15;227(16). doi: 10.1242/jeb.247231. Epub 2024 Aug 14.
Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a pervasive factor that has shaped the evolution of life on Earth. Ambient levels of UVR mediate key biological functions but can also cause severe lethal and sublethal effects in a wide range of organisms. Furthermore, UVR is a powerful modulator of the effects of other environmental factors on organismal physiology, such as temperature, disease, toxicology and pH, among others. This is critically important in the context of global change, where understanding the effects of multiple stressors is a key challenge for experimental biologists. Ecological physiologists rarely afford UVR discussion or include UVR in experimental design, even when it is directly relevant to their study system. In this Commentary, we provide a guide for experimental biologists to better understand if, when, and how UVR can be integrated into experimental designs to improve the ecological realism of their experiments.
紫外线辐射（UVR）是一种普遍存在的因素，它塑造了地球上生命的进化。环境水平的 UVR 介导关键的生物功能，但也会在广泛的生物体内引起严重的致死和亚致死效应。此外，UVR 是其他环境因素对生物体生理影响的强大调节剂，如温度、疾病、毒理学和 pH 值等。在全球变化的背景下，这一点至关重要，因为了解多种胁迫因素的影响是实验生物学家面临的一个关键挑战。生态生理学家很少讨论 UVR 或在实验设计中包含 UVR，即使它与他们的研究系统直接相关。在这篇评论中，我们为实验生物学家提供了一个指南，以更好地理解何时以及如何将 UVR 整合到实验设计中，以提高实验的生态现实性。
