“…At longer time‐scales, variation in soil humidity can cause changes in morphological and reproductive traits (Duncan, 2002 ; Hammond, 1976 ; Rougon & Rougon, 1983 ; Verdú & Galante, 2004 ), and even in ontogenetic development (Vessby, 2001 ). In general, larger body sizes allow a higher desiccation resistance (Nervo, Roggero, Chamberlain, Caprio, et al, 2021 ), although physiological responses to desiccation vary at the species and individual levels, with females often being more resistant than males within a species (Nervo, Roggero, Chamberlain, Rolando, et al, 2021 ). Physiological traits also respond to water gradients along with behavioural responses, reducing water loss rate and/or tolerating water loss in dryer conditions (Duncan & Byrne, 2000 ; Nervo, Roggero, Chamberlain, Caprio, et al, 2021 ), or increasing their tolerance to the hypoxic conditions in the wet dung pats of humid environments (Holter, 1991 ; Whipple et al, 2013 ).…”