Extinction risks forced by climatic change and intraspecific variation in the thermal physiology of a tropical lizard

Pontes-da-Silva, Emerson; Magnusson, William E.; Sinervo, Barry; Caetano, Gabriel Henrique de Oliveira; Miles, Donald B.; Colli, Guarino R.; Diele‐Viegas, Luisa Maria; Fenker, Jéssica; Santos, Juan Carlos; Werneck, Fernanda P.

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2018.01.013

Cited by 71 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Although facilitation as an ecological process does not necessarily include lifetime fitness as a component (Stachowicz, 2001, Bruno et al, 2003, Michalet et al, 2011, Michalet & Pugnaire, 2016, our inference that E. californica facilitates G. sila would take on additional relevance, particularly to the potential for community structuring and the promotion of resilience in lizard populations, if the effects of E. californica facilitation on G. sila individual fitness were quantified. In the case of diurnal lizards, the link between thermal habitat quality and individual fitness has been firmly established by both theory and empirical testing (Kirchhof et al, 2018, Ortega, Mencía, & Pérez-Mellado, 2016, Vickers et al, 2016, Pontes-da-Silva et al, 2018, Camacho et al, 2018, but we believe further study on the E. californica-G. sila relationship with respect to individual fitness is warranted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A test of desert shrub facilitation via radiotelemetric monitoring of a diurnal lizard

Westphal

Noble

Butterfield

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Preservation of desert ecosystems is a worldwide conservation priority. Shrubs can play a key role in the structure of desert communities and can function as foundation species. Understanding desert shrub ecology is therefore an important task in desert conservation. A useful model for the function of shrubs in deserts is ecological facilitation, which explores benefits that shrubs confer on their community. Facilitation has been well developed in the context of shrub–plant interactions but less well studied for plant–animal interactions. We used radiotelemetry to test the hypothesis that a dominant desert shrub facilitates one species of diurnal lizard. We hypothesized that the blunt‐nosed leopard lizard Gambelia sila would spend some part of its daily activity cycle associated with California jointfir Ephedra californica, and that lizard association with shrubs would increase during the afternoon peak temperature period. We relocated lizards three times daily for 24 days and scored whether lizards were within 0.5 m of a shrub, which we used as an indicator of shrub association. For each relocation, we also scored lizard association with a set of predefined microhabitat features. We also scored lizard behavior according to a set of predefined behavioral traits. We constructed home ranges following the minimum convex polygon method and generated estimates of shrub density and relative shrub area within each home range polygon. We obtained 1,190 datapoints from a sample of 27 lizards. We found that lizards were associated with open sites significantly more often than with shrubs but were associated with shrubs more than predicted by percent shrub area within their home ranges. Lizards were associated significantly more often under shrubs during the afternoon peak temperature period, and lizards were observed cooling under shrubs significantly more often. The frequency of association of individual lizards with shrubs was not correlated with the density of shrubs within their home range. Synthesis and Applications. Shrubs can be considered as a component of high‐quality habitat for ectothermic desert vertebrates for the purposes of restoration and management. Furthermore, radiotelemetry provides a novel methodological approach for assessing shrub–animal facilitative interactions within desert communities.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A test of desert shrub facilitation via radiotelemetric monitoring of a diurnal lizard

Westphal

Noble

Butterfield

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pontes‐da‐Silva et al () showed that K. calcarata exhibits considerable geographic variation in thermal ecology and tolerance along the Amazonia‐Cerrado gradient, indicating intraspecific differences in climatic vulnerability that can result in diverse responses to historical and future climate change below the species level. Together with the niche dynamics presented here, this could result in evolutionary distinctiveness of speciation and adaptation processes and complementary conservation value and vulnerability of central and peripheral populations within Kentropyx spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The combined role of dispersal and niche evolution in the diversification of Neotropical lizards

Sheu

Zurano²,

Ribeiro‐Júnior

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ecological requirements and environmental conditions can influence diversification across temporal and spatial scales. Understanding the role of ecological niche evolution under phylogenetic contexts provides insights on speciation mechanisms and possible responses to future climatic change. Large‐scale phyloclimatic studies on the megadiverse Neotropics, where biomes with contrasting vegetation types occur in narrow contact, are rare. We integrate ecological and biogeographic data with phylogenetic comparative methods, to investigate the relative roles of biogeographic events and niche divergence and conservatism on the diversification of the lizard genus Kentropyx Spix, 1825 (Squamata: Teiidae), distributed in South American rainforests and savannas. Using five molecular markers, we estimated a dated species tree, which recovered three clades coincident with previously proposed species groups diverging during the mid‐Miocene. Biogeography reconstruction indicates a role of successive dispersal events from an ancestral range in the Brazilian Shield and western Amazonia. Ancestral reconstruction of climatic tolerances and niche overlap metrics indicates a trend of conservatism during the diversification of groups from the Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield, and a strong signal of niche divergence in the Brazilian Shield savannas. Our results suggest that climatic‐driven divergence at dynamic forest‐savanna borders might have resulted in adaptation to new environmental niches, promoting habitat shifts and shaping speciation patterns of Neotropical lizards. Dispersal and ecological divergence could have a more important role in Neotropical diversification than previously thought.

show abstract

“…2016; Pontes‐da‐Silva et al. 2018). For example, range‐edge populations may hold a reservoir of pre‐adapted genes that might, with sufficient gene flow, facilitate adaptation at the species level (Aitken and Whitlock 2013).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic variation in adult and embryonic desiccation tolerance in a terrestrial‐breeding frog

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intraspecific variation in the ability of individuals to tolerate environmental perturbations is often neglected when considering the impacts of climate change. Yet this information is potentially crucial for mitigating deleterious effects of climate change on threatened species. Here we assessed patterns of intraspecific variation in desiccation tolerance in the frog Pseudophryne guentheri, a terrestrial‐breeding species experiencing a drying climate. Adult frogs were collected from six populations across a rainfall gradient and their dehydration and rehydration rates were assessed. We also compared desiccation tolerance of embryos and hatchlings originating from within‐population parental crosses from four of the populations. Embryos were reared on soil at three soil–water potentials and their desiccation tolerance was assessed across a range of traits. We found significant and strong patterns of intraspecific variation in almost all traits, both in adults and first‐generation offspring. Adult frogs exhibited clinal variation in their water balance responses, with populations from drier sites both dehydrating and rehydrating more slowly compared to frogs from more mesic sites. Similarly, desiccation tolerance of first‐generation offspring was significantly greater in populations from xeric sites. Our findings suggest that populations within this species will respond differently to the regional reduction in rainfall predicted by climate change models.

show abstract

Extinction risks forced by climatic change and intraspecific variation in the thermal physiology of a tropical lizard

Cited by 71 publications

References 40 publications

A test of desert shrub facilitation via radiotelemetric monitoring of a diurnal lizard

A test of desert shrub facilitation via radiotelemetric monitoring of a diurnal lizard

The combined role of dispersal and niche evolution in the diversification of Neotropical lizards

Geographic variation in adult and embryonic desiccation tolerance in a terrestrial‐breeding frog

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About