Rate compensations and capacity adaptations

Abstract

Variations in body temperature have profound effects upon virtually all aspects of animal performance. Yet this is a situation that most ectotherms and some endotherms experience either on a daily or on a seasonal basis. Other species have also experienced shifts in temperature over evolutionary time as they invade new geographical or climatic zones. There is a large body of evidence to show that animals are not totally passive in the face of varying body temperatures. Instead they display an impressive ability to adjust their physiology in ways which overcome the direct effects of temperature variations.