Temporal climatic variability predicts thermal tolerance in two sympatric lizard species

Abstract

Thermal acclimatization, plastic shifts in thermal physiology in response to recent climatic conditions, is thought to be adaptive in highly seasonal environments where thermal variability is high but predictable. Thus, lizards from mid-latitude, desert environments should exhibit plasticity in their thermal tolerance limits, the upper (CTmax) and lower (CTmin) body temperatures they can withstand while maintaining physiological functioning, associated with changes in seasonal changes in climatic variation (i.e., when daily fluctuations in temperature are greater, lizards should have wider thermal tolerance breadths [CTmax-CTmin]). We measured the thermal tolerance limits of two Phrynosomatid lizard species, Uta stansburiana and Sceloporus tristichus, occurring in sympatry at three time points to test for temporal variation in thermal physiology in response to climatic variation. We found that lizards of both species measured during times when climatic variability was high had wider thermal tolerance breadths than lizards measured when climatic variability was lower. While CTmax was largely invariable, CTmin varied in response to minimum air temperature, driving the observed difference in thermal tolerance breadth among the sampling periods.

Keywords: Climatic variability; Colorado Plateau; Phrynosomatidae; Thermal acclimatization.