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| Global annual mean temperatures increased 0.748C in
the second half of the 20th century and projections are
for even greater increases in the 21st century (Solomon
et al. 2007). But how do such increases in air tempera-
ture a?ect species on the ground? Studies examining
climate change e?ects on species distributions inves-
tigate the relationship between the distributions of
species and atmospheric variables, such as air tempera-
ture. ?e projections of altered species distributions are
then made assuming that the e?ects of climate change on
species are proportional to changes in the variables used
for modelling (Araújo et al. 2006). But even with ecto-
therms – that regulate their body temperature from external
heat sources – changes in body temperature are not expected
to equal changes in air temperature. We measure di?erences
in air temperature and expected body temperature (opera-
tive temperature) of a non-thermoregulating ectotherm
with the convective and radiative properties of a lizard
across the Iberian Peninsula, Supplementary material
Appendix 1. Mean operative temperatures were calculated
for every 5-yr interval between 1956–2010, using well-
known biophysical equations (Bakken and Gates 1975)
and outputs from a new Regional Climate Model (RCM).
?e RCM was dynamically downscaled at 5 ? 5 km resolu-
tion with hourly climate estimates across the entire period
of time considered (Prasad Dasari et al. 2014). Expected
operative temperatures were then compared with air tem-
peratures. ?e latest climatic numerical downscalings for
Europe have a maximum horizontal resolution of 25 km
(Haylock et al. 2008, Kendon et al. 2010) or 12 km (Jacob
et al. 2014). ?e RCM downscaling used in this study has
a horizontal resolution of 5 km (Prasad Dasari et al. 2014)
making it, to our knowledge, the highest resolution avail-
able for the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. ?is spatial
resolution is similar to that of previous studies modelling
the relationship between reptiles and climate and operative
temperatures (Kearney and Porter 2004, Buckley 2010). | |
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