Temperature also sets limits on the activities of animals.
Behavioral ecologists often discuss thermal activity ranges, the ranges of environmental temperatures over which animals can remain active. The range of environmental temperatures on the planet Earth is much greater than the temperature range that permits active life. Yet insects stand premier among land animals in their ability to inhabit the Earth's extreme temperature environments. Their ability to live, and carry out a full range of life activity, in environments ranging from hot deserts to high mountains to the high arctic depends, in large part, on various physiological responses to temperature. These responses vary from long-term seasonal synchronizations of life cycles to immediate behavioral and physiological adjustments.