We are taken through the stages: Lorius's first trip to Antarctica to study snow; the realisation that the ratio of "light" hydrogen atoms to "heavy" in each snowflake corresponds precisely to the ambient temperature of the day of the snowfall; then decision to take core samples to study the change in temperature over time.
We did find that some individual traits changed significantly with either current temperature or change in temperature over time, but they changed in both directions.
Using total length as a surrogate for body mass, we did not find significant relationships between total length and either current temperature or change in temperature over time.
In addition to the effects of the level of temperature per se, there is some evidence that a change in temperature over time could have adverse health effects (Chen et al. 2010; Guo et al. 2011; Jaakkola et al. 2014; Tan et al. 2005; Yang et al. 2009).
Later studies in other poikilotherms (in particular fishes), demonstrated that even mild changes in temperature over long periods of time can influence lifespan (Walford and Liu 1965).
An ANOVA for repeated measurements was performed to analyse changes in body temperature over time.
Studies of climate history show as was mentioned above that sharp changes in temperatures over brief periods of time have occurred frequently without setting into motion any disastrous feedback systems that would lead either to a runaway heating that would cook the earth or a freezing that would eliminate all life.
These experiments thus point to the generality of the capacity of local populations of aquatic invertebrates to respond genetically to a sudden change in temperature over a short interval of time (De Meester et al. 2011).
This contrasts with changes in temperature, where developmental time roughly doubles over a 10°C range, regardless of the oxygen concentration (Supplementary Figure S2).
