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Analysis of institutional authors

Martinez, BAuthorRodriguez, LAuthorOlalla-Tarraga, MaAuthor

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September 27, 2022
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Article

The evolution of critical thermal limits of life on Earth

Publicated to:Nature Communications. 12 (1): 1198- - 2021-02-19 12(1), DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21263-8

Authors: Bennett, Joanne M; Sunday, Jennifer; Calosi, Piero; Villalobos, Fabricio; Martinez, Brezo; Molina-Venegas, Rafael; Araujo, Miguel B; Algar, Adam C; Clusella-Trullas, Susana; Hawkins, Bradford A; Keith, Sally A; Kuehn, Ingolf; Rahbek, Carsten; Rodriguez, Laura; Singer, Alexander; Morales-Castilla, Ignacio; Olalla-Tarraga, Miguel Angel

Affiliations

CSIC, Natl Museum Nat Sci, Dept Biogeog & Global Change, Madrid, Spain - Author
German Ctr Integrat Biodivers Res iDiv, Leipzig, Germany - Author
Imperial Coll London, Dept Life Sci, Ascot SL5 7PY, Berks, England - Author
Inst Ecol AC, Red Biol Evolut, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico - Author
Martin Luther Univ Halle Wittenberg, Inst Biol, Halle, Saale, Germany - Author
McGill Univ, Dept Biol, Montreal, PQ, Canada - Author
Stellenbosch Univ, Dept Bot & Zool, Ctr Invas Biol, Stellenbosch, South Africa - Author
UFZ Helmholtz Ctr Environm Res, Dept Community Ecol, Halle, Germany - Author
Univ Alcala, Dept Life Sci, GloCEE Global Change Ecol & Evolut Grp, Alcala De Henares, Spain - Author
Univ Calif Irvine, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Irvine, CA 92717 USA - Author
Univ Canberra, Fac Sci & Technol, Inst Appl Ecol, Ctr Appl Water Sci, Canberra, ACT, Australia - Author
Univ Copenhagen, GLOBE Inst, Ctr Macroecol Evolut & Climate, Univ Pk 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark - Author
Univ Evora, Inst Med, Evora, Portugal - Author
Univ Fed Goias, Inst Ciencias Biol, Dept Ecol, Goiania, Go, Brazil - Author
Univ Lancaster, Lancaster Environm Ctr, Lancaster, England - Author
Univ Leipzig, Ritterstr 26, D-04109 Leipzig, Germany - Author
Univ Nottingham, Sch Geog, Nottingham, England - Author
Univ Quebec Rimouski, Dept Biol Chim & Geog, Rimouski, PQ, Canada - Author
Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Dept Biol & Geol Phys & Inorgan Chem, Mostoles, Spain - Author
Univ Southern Denmark, Danish Inst Adv Study, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark - Author
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Abstract

Understanding how species' thermal limits have evolved across the tree of life is central to predicting species' responses to climate change. Here, using experimentally-derived estimates of thermal tolerance limits for over 2000 terrestrial and aquatic species, we show that most of the variation in thermal tolerance can be attributed to a combination of adaptation to current climatic extremes, and the existence of evolutionary 'attractors' that reflect either boundaries or optima in thermal tolerance limits. Our results also reveal deep-time climate legacies in ectotherms, whereby orders that originated in cold paleoclimates have presently lower cold tolerance limits than those with warm thermal ancestry. Conversely, heat tolerance appears unrelated to climate ancestry. Cold tolerance has evolved more quickly than heat tolerance in endotherms and ectotherms. If the past tempo of evolution for upper thermal limits continues, adaptive responses in thermal limits will have limited potential to rescue the large majority of species given the unprecedented rate of contemporary climate change. Historical climate adaptation can give insight into the potential for adaptation to contemporary changing climates. Here Bennett et al. investigate thermal tolerance evolution across much of the tree of life and find different effects of ancestral climate on the subsequent evolution of ectotherms vs. endotherms.

Keywords

AdaptationAdaptation, physiologicalAnimalAnimalsAquatic speciesArticleBiological evolutionClimateClimate changeClimate-changeCold stressCold toleranceCritical thermal limitEarth, planetEcologyEvolutionEvolutionary rateGlobal diversityHeatHeat toleranceHot temperatureMarineNiche conservatismNonhumanPaleoclimatePatternsPhylogenyPhysiologyPlant physiological phenomenaPlant physiologyRevised classificationSpeciationTemperatureTemperature toleranceThermotoleranceTolerance

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Nature Communications due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position 6/74, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Multidisciplinary Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

This publication has been distinguished as a “Highly Cited Paper” by the agencies WoS (ESI, Clarivate) and ESI (Clarivate), meaning that it ranks within the top 1% of the most cited articles in its thematic field during the year of its publication. In terms of the observed impact of the contribution, this work is considered one of the most influential worldwide, as it is recognized as highly cited. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

And this is evidenced by the extremely high normalized impacts through some of the main indicators of this type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of calculation, already indicate that they are well above the average in different agencies:

  • Normalization of citations relative to the expected citation rate (ESI) by the Clarivate agency: 11.02 (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 12.46 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 39.01 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-17, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 213
  • Scopus: 218
  • Europe PMC: 71

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-17:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 399.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 413 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 234.4.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 4 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 63 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 26 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Australia; Brazil; Canada; Denmark; Germany; Mexico; Portugal; South African Republic; United Kingdom; United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (Olalla Tárraga, Miguel Ángel).