Impacts of climate change on the movement ecology of an imperfect homeotherm

Abstract

Rapid, human-induced climate change has posed significant challenges to wildlife. One key strategy animals use to cope with environmental temperature fluctuations is behavioral thermoregulation. Understanding how climate change is expected to influence animal behavior is crucial for assessing its impact on species survival and informing effective conservation efforts. Giant anteaters have been found to exhibit conspicuous behavioral responses to temperature changes. Despite their broad thermal neutral zone (15 - 36{degrees}C), climate projections indicate that this vulnerable mammal is increasingly likely to experience heat stress. We used GPS tracking and continuous-time analyses to investigate how environmental temperature influences the movement ecology of giant anteaters. We integrated our findings with climate change projections to link giant anteaters responses to present weather conditions with those expected under future climate scenarios. Giant anteaters movement speed exhibited a negative quadratic response to temperature, peaking at 23.7{degrees}C. 95% of their movement occurred between 15.0 - 32.3{degrees}C, which aligns with their thermal neutral zone. The increasing temperature led giant anteaters to increase selection for native forests, but had no effect on selection for exotic tree plantations. This shows the importance of native forests as these thermal shelters help to mitigate the negative consequences of high temperatures on anteaters movement. However, the warmer temperatures predicted for Brazil throughout the rest of the 21st century indicate that giant anteaters may experience a reduction of up to 84% in their movement speed. This would hinder the acquisition of sufficient energy resources and threaten the species persistence. We emphasize the need for conservation efforts that account for the impacts of climate change on species survival and stress the importance of preserving forests as essential refuges that help wildlife to cope with rising temperatures.