AmphiTherm: a comprehensive database of amphibian thermal tolerance and preference
Thermal traits are crucial to our understanding of the ecology and physiology of ectothermic animals. While rising global temperatures have increasingly pushed research towards the study of upper thermal limits, lower thermal limits and thermal preferences are essential for defining the thermal niche of ectotherms. Through a systematic review of the literature in seven languages, we expanded an existing database of amphibian heat tolerance by adding 1,009 estimates of cold tolerance and 816 estimates of thermal preference across 375 species. AmphiTherm is a comprehensive and reproducible database that contains 4,899 thermal trait estimates from a diverse sample of 659 species (~7.5% of all described amphibians) spanning 38 families. Despite its broad geographic coverage, we report evident gaps across amphibian biodiversity hotspots in Africa, most regions of Asia, central South America, and Western Australia. By providing a more holistic understanding of amphibian thermal tolerance and preferences, AmphiTherm is a valuable resource for advancing research in evolutionary biology, ecophysiology, and biogeography of amphibians, offering insights that are increasingly needed in changing climates.
Authors
- Rachel Rui Ying Oh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2716-7727)
- Tatsuya Amano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6576-3410)
- José O. Valdebenito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6709-6305)
- Patrice Pottier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2106-6597)
- Samantha Burke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6902-974X)
- Yefeng Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8610-4016)
- A. Nayelli Rivera‐Villanueva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9190-4317)
- Pietro Pollo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6555-5400)
- Szymon Marian Drobniak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8101-6247)
- Ana V. Longo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5112-1246)
- Hsien‐Yung Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2564-3593)
- Natalie M. Claunch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3144-4192)
- Shinichi Nakagawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7765-5182)
- Sarah Varon
Institutions
- Australian National University (AU)
- Jagiellonian University (PL)
- Florida Museum of Natural History (US)
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA)
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (MX)
- University of Concepción (CL)
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- University of Florida (US)
- Life Services (United States) (US)
- Environmental Earth Sciences (AU)
- University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Data
- Published
- 2025-11-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-06286-w
- Primary Topic
- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00