Data from: GlobTherm, a global database on thermal tolerances for aquatic and terrestrial organisms

How climate affects species distributions is a longstanding question receiving renewed interest owing to the need to predict the impacts of global warming on biodiversity. Is climate change forcing species to live near their critical thermal limits? Are these limits likely to change through natural selection? These and other important questions can be addressed with models relating geographical distributions of species with climate data, but inferences made with these models are highly contingent on non-climatic factors such as biotic interactions. Improved understanding of climate change effects on species will require extensive analysis of thermal physiological traits, but such data are scarce and scattered. To overcome current limitations, we created the GlobTherm database. The database contains experimentally derived species’ thermal tolerance data currently comprising over 2,000 species of terrestrial, freshwater, intertidal and marine multicellular algae, pl
ants, fungi, and animals. The GlobTherm database will be maintained and curated by iDiv with the aim of expanding it, and enable further investigations on the effects of climate on the distribution of life on Earth.

气候如何影响物种分布，是一个长期存在的科学问题，如今因需预测全球变暖对生物多样性的影响而重新受到学界关注。气候变化是否正迫使物种栖息在其临界热耐受极限附近？此类极限是否会通过自然选择发生改变？这类以及其他重要科学问题，可通过将物种地理分布与气候数据相关联的模型进行解答，但此类模型所得到的推论高度依赖于生物相互作用等非气候因素。要加深对气候变化影响物种的理解，需要对热生理性状开展大量分析，但此类数据既稀缺又分散。为克服当前研究局限，我们构建了GlobTherm数据库。该数据库收录了经实验获得的物种热耐受数据，目前涵盖陆生、淡水、潮间带及海洋类群的2000余种多细胞藻类、植物、真菌与动物。GlobTherm数据库将由iDiv负责维护与管理，旨在持续扩充数据库规模，并助力开展更多探索气候对地球生命分布影响的相关研究。