Proteins function optimally at a specific temperature. So if you get too hot or too cold, biochemical reactions in your body start to function less well. If the situation becomes extreme enough, they can cease to function well enough to sustain life.
Warm-blooded animals have an advantage over cold-blooded ones in that their bodies automatically try to maintain the optimal termperature for things in their bodies to function. Cold-blooded animals depend on the environmental temperature to do this for them. That's why reptiles are very sluggish when they're cold, but will "wake up" when they get warm.
The cost to this benefit is that metabolically, warm-blooded animals require a lot more fuel to run their bodies. It's very energy-intensive to maintain a constant body temperature. Cold-blooded animals require far less fuel than warm-blooded ones relative to their size.
The way that proteins operate in a specific temperature is also true of the pH in your body which is also very tightly maintained.
The data did not support the hypothesis because the amount of dissolved oxygen decreased as water temperature increased.
