Some like it hotter: Differential thermal preferences among lizard color morphs.

Autor: Thompson A; Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA., Kapsanaki V; Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece., Liwanag HEM; Department of Biological Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA., Pafilis P; Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; Zoological Museum, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece., Wang IJ; Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA., Brock KM; Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: kbrock@berkeley.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of thermal biology [J Therm Biol] 2023 Apr; Vol. 113, pp. 103532. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Mar 01.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2023.103532
Abstrakt: Temperature rules the lives of ectotherms. To perform basic biological functions, ectotherms must make behavioral adjustments to keep their body temperatures near a preferred temperature (Tpref). Many color polymorphic lizards are active thermoregulators and exhibit morph differences in traits related to thermoregulation, such as color, body size, and microhabitat use. The Aegean wall lizard, Podarcis erhardii, is a heliothermic lizard with orange, white, and yellow color morphs that differ in size, behavior, and microhabitat use. Here, we tested whether P. erhardii color morphs from the same population from Naxos island, Greece, differ in Tpref. We hypothesized that orange morphs would prefer lower temperatures than white and yellow morphs because orange morphs are often found on cooler substrates and in microhabitats with more vegetation cover. We obtained Tpref for 95 individuals using laboratory thermal gradient experiments of wild-caught lizards and found that orange morphs do, indeed, prefer cooler temperatures. Average orange morph Tpref was 2.85 °C lower than average white and yellow morph Tpref. Our results add support to the idea that P. erhardii color morphs have multivariate alternative phenotypes and present the possibility that thermally heterogeneous environments play a role in the maintenance of color polymorphism in this species.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no competing interests to declare.
(Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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