Habitat shapes the thermoregulation of Mediterranean lizards introduced to replicate experimental islets

Panayiotis Pafilis; Anthony Herrel; Grigoris Kapsalas; Menelia Vasilopoulou-Kampitsi; Anne-Claire Fabre; Johannes Foufopoulos; Colin M Donihue

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2019.07.032

Habitat shapes the thermoregulation of Mediterranean lizards introduced to replicate experimental islets

J Therm Biol. 2019 Aug:84:368-374. doi: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2019.07.032. Epub 2019 Jul 29.

Authors

Panayiotis Pafilis¹, Anthony Herrel², Grigoris Kapsalas³, Menelia Vasilopoulou-Kampitsi⁴, Anne-Claire Fabre⁵, Johannes Foufopoulos⁶, Colin M Donihue⁷

Affiliations

¹ Dept. of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece; Zoological Museum, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Electronic address: ppafil@biol.uoa.gr.
² Dept. Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Paris, France; Dept. of Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium; Dept. of Biology, Ghent University, Belgium.
³ Dept. of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.
⁴ Dept. of Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
⁵ Dept. of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, USA.
⁷ Dept. Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Paris, France; Dept. of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, USA; Dept. of Biology, Washington University of St. Louis, USA.

PMID: 31466776
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2019.07.032

Abstract

Both environmental temperatures and spatial heterogeneity can profoundly affect the biology of ectotherms. In lizards, thermoregulation may show high plasticity and may respond to environmental shifts. In the context of global climate change, lizards showing plastic thermoregulatory responses may be favored. In this study, we designed an experiment to evaluate the extent to which lizard thermoregulation responds to introduction to a new environment in a snapshot of time. In 2014, we captured individuals of the Aegean Wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii) from Naxos Island (429.8 km²) and released them onto two small, lizard-free islets, Galiatsos (0.0073 km²) and Kampana (0.004 km²) (Aegean Sea, Greece). In 2017, we returned to the islets and estimated the effectiveness (E), accuracy and precision of thermoregulation measuring operative, preferred (T_pref) and body temperatures. We hypothesized that the three habitats would differ in thermal quality and investigated the extent to which lizards from Naxos demonstrate plasticity when introduced to the novel, islet habitats. Thermal parameters did not differ between Galiatsos and Naxos and this was reflected in the similar E and T_pref. However, lizards from Kampana deviated in all focal traits from Naxos, resulting in higher E and a preference for higher T_pref. In sum, Naxos lizards shifted their thermoregulatory profile due to the idiosyncratic features of their new islet habitat. Our results advocate a high plasticity in lizard thermoregulation and suggest that there is room for effective responses to environmental changes, at least for Podarcis lizards in insular habitats.

Keywords: Ectotherms; Islands; Plasticity; Rapid adaptation; Thermal biology.

MeSH terms

Animals
Body Temperature Regulation*
Ecosystem*
Islands
Lizards / physiology*
Plants
Temperature