Seasonal changes in thermal biology of Podarcis lilfordi (Squamata, Lacertidae) consistently depend on habitat traits

Z. Ortega, V. Pérez-Mellado, M. Garrido, C. Guerra, A. Villa-García, T. Alonso-Fernández

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

During spring and summer, we studied the thermal ecology of two populations of the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, from two coastal islets of Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain): Aire and Colom. We calculated the accuracy of thermoregulation, that is, the extent to which body temperatures are close to species' thermal optima, the thermal quality of the habitat as the proximity of operative temperatures to thermal optima and effectiveness of thermoregulation, as the extent to which accuracy is higher than thermal quality of the habitat. We found that seasonality affects thermoregulation differently, depending on the lizard population. Those effects are consistent for all thermal parameters under study. The effects of seasonality were significantly stronger in Aire than in Colom islet. Many factors may be responsible for this different effect of seasonality, from differences on physiological traits to differences in the environmental conditions of the two islets, as their resource availability, predator pressure or habitat structure. Identifying the factors that boost or inhibit those seasonal changes would be important to understand thermoregulation in lizards. Slight changes on two similar populations can lead to great differences in thermal ecology of conspecific ectotherms.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)32-39
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Thermal Biology
Volume39
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Behavioral thermoregulation
  • Daily activity
  • Islands
  • Podarcis lilfordi
  • Seasonal variation
  • Thermal effectiveness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physiology
  • Biochemistry
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
  • Developmental Biology

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