Behavioural Ecology of Terrestrial Mammals under Changing Climate Scenarios: A Review
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Global climate systems are undergoing substantial alterations, including increased average surface temperatures, greater variability in precipitation, and more frequent extreme weather events. Climate change presents a profound and accelerating threat to terrestrial mammals, altering the ecological landscapes that shape their behavioural responses. Behavioural ecology of terrestrial mammals under changing climate scenarios. Current knowledge on how mammals adjust their behavioural mechanisms to climatic stressors, focusing on thermoregulatory strategies, foraging shifts, reproductive timing, migration patterns, and social dynamics. Behavioural ecology offers crucial insight into species' resilience, revealing that behaviour often functions as the first and most flexible line of defence against environmental instability. Observed adaptations include increased nocturnality to avoid thermal extremes, altered breeding schedules to align with changing resource availability, and expanded movement to track shifting habitats. While some species exhibit considerable plasticity, others face limits due to physiological constraints or fragmented habitats, highlighting unequal adaptive capacities across taxa. The need for long-term behavioural monitoring, integration of behavioural traits into predictive models, and interdisciplinary research combining ecology, physiology, and climate science may improve the understanding of terrestrial mammal behaviour under climatic changes. Methodological approaches such as GPS tracking, bio-logging, remote sensing, and citizen science have enhanced the ability to capture fine-scale behavioural variation. Conservation implications are significant: behavioural indicators can aid in vulnerability assessment, guide climate-adaptive wildlife management, and inform the design of dynamic protected areas. Despite these advances, major gaps remain, particularly for small-bodied, nocturnal, and tropical species where data are scarce. Future directions include refining models to incorporate behavioural plasticity, identifying resilience thresholds, and enhancing policy engagement through locally grounded behavioural knowledge. As global temperatures rise, leveraging behavioural ecology offers a promising pathway to strengthen biodiversity conservation and enhance ecosystem resilience in an increasingly unpredictable climate context.
Source: UTTAR PRADESH JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Authors: B. Sujatha, D Prasanna, Rashmi Mohapatra, J. R. Rajeshwar, Sunita Satyendra Gupta, Ashoka P, Patne Yashwant Babarao
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Climate action, Life on land
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4413612207