Macrophysiology for decision-making

In an 1854 lecture, TH Huxley suggested that physiology should be measured by its contribution to science, its practical worth and the extent to which it should be made a branch of education. Since macrophysiology, or the investigation of variation in physiological traits over large geographical and temporal scales and the ecological implications of this variation, is well-established and approaching its third decade, these questions are posed for it here. The field is, of course, much older, but, over the last two decades, has contributed substantially to fundamental eco-evolutionary research and to understanding the conservation consequences of physiological variation at regional and global scales. Its greatest successes have been in understanding variation in thermal and metabolic responses of animals and plants to variable environments and the significance thereof in the context of the climate crisis. By contrast, much less progress has been made in understanding the regulation of water in the context of currently changing environments and projections of further impacts associated with ongoing global change. The development of new datasets of physiological traits across broad spatial scales has been a slower enterprise than the further compilation of trait databases from extant data. Surprising insights have emerged from genomics-based microbial macrophysiology, an approach which has much potential to span all of life's variety. The findings of macrophysiological investigations have been taken up within policy reports and/or implementation actions, such as those of the IPCC and the Antarctic Treaty System, that have resulted in benefits to society and to the environment. Yet, as is the case with other areas of research, much remains to be done to develop further strategies to counteract the anti-science attitudes that are now so prevalent globally.