Heat, Livers and Herbivores: Climate change and wildlife

By Fiona Marcelino

Kurnath shows off the biology lab’s pet woodrat, Charlie.

Increasing global temperatures have the potential to alter ecosystems and the resources they provide one another.

It is estimated that 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species will be at increased extinction if global temperature rises more than 3.6-5.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Due to changing climate conditions, University of Utah graduate student, Patrice Kurnath, is examining the physiology of woodrats as a potential predictor of how other herbivorous mammals may react to climate change. 

“I’m investigating the relationship between ambient temperature, plant toxins and liver functions through a sacrifice free assay,” said Kurnath. “I’m interested in looking at how environmental changes affect the woodrat’s ability to metabolize plant toxins.”

Kurnath’s studies in analyzing the relationship between the woodrats’ ability to digest and metabolize plant toxins and also studying how both plants and animals adapt to environmental changes could potentially be applied to mammals and herbivores in different ecosystems as a predictor of how they might respond to climate change.

“Woodrats are great species to study because they’re not endangered and they lend themselves to numerous ecological and evolutionary questions,” said Kurnath. “They also live in the desert which is usually predicted to be affected first and most severely in climate change.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, rising global temperatures can affect the natural world and raise questions of how vulnerable populations will adapt to direct and indirect affects associated with climate change. Higher temperatures require higher energy expenditures, which means more energy is used to obtain food. This means that any change in temperature can cause stress and negatively affect an animal’s metabolic rate.

Findings from Scientific American connect the increase of global temperatures to increased metabolic rates in various animals. While higher metabolic rates in humans is not necessarily troubling, researches are worried about how it might affect future species, especially those living in areas where food and water are limited.

“Plants, trees and other environmental elements have been and are going to continue to change because of increasing global temperatures,” said Kurnath. “By studying the physiology of these woodrats, we can also speculate how other mammals and herbivores not living in the dessert may be affected by climate change.”

Kurnath studies the physiology of Neotoma bryanti, also known as Bryant’s woodrat.

Charlie’s cage in the biology lab.