Heat seekers: A tropical nocturnal lizard uses behavioral thermoregulation to exploit rare microclimates at night

Nordberg, Eric J.; Schwarzkopf, Lin

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2019.03.018

Cited by 33 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…The habitat use we observed corresponded well to habitat use reported in the literature for these species, according to which northern velvet geckos ( O. castelnaui ) use arboreal habitats [ 42 , 55 , 57 ]; spotted velvet geckos ( O. coggeri ) use saxicoline habitats, [ 42 , 54 ]; and ocellated velvet geckos ( O. monilis ) use both arboreal and saxicoline habitats [ 42 , 47 , 58 ]. We found Oedura castelnaui ( N = 67) exclusively on arboreal microhabitats and used dead trees and silver-leaf ironbark trees ( Eucalyptus melanophloia) approximately equally (Fig.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 79%

“…A range of factors, such as temperature [ 55 , 67 ], substrate colour and height [ 68 ], ambient light [ 69 , 70 ], competition [ 9 , 57 ] and refuge availability [ 70 ] influence microhabitat selection in geckos. We excluded the influence of these confounding factors by performing trials in constant temperature rooms, matching substrate colour, using infrared light, and not providing any refuge in the testing arenas (Supplementary material S5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We studied three closely related [ 78 ], and otherwise morphologically similar [ 79 ], species of velvet gecko (genus Oedura ) with well-developed toepads, namely, northern velvet geckos ( Oedura castelnaui ), northern spotted velvet geckos ( Oedura coggeri ) and ocellated velvet geckos ( Oedura monilis , [ 41 , 53 , 55 , 77 ]).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geckos cling best to, and prefer to use, rough surfaces

et al. 2020

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Background Fitness is strongly related to locomotor performance, which can determine success in foraging, mating, and other critical activities. Locomotor performance on different substrates is likely to require different abilities, so we expect alignment between species’ locomotor performance and the habitats they use in nature. In addition, we expect behaviour to enhance performance, such that animals will use substrates on which they perform well. Methods We examined the associations between habitat selection and performance in three species of Oedura geckos, including two specialists, (one arboreal, and one saxicolous), and one generalist species, which used both rocks and trees. First, we described their microhabitat use in nature (tree and rock type) for these species, examined the surface roughnesses they encountered, and selected materials with comparable surface microtopographies (roughness measured as peak-to-valley heights) to use as substrates in lab experiments quantifying behavioural substrate preferences and clinging performance. Results The three Oedura species occupied different ecological niches and used different microhabitats in nature, and the two specialist species used a narrower range of surface roughnesses compared to the generalist. In the lab, Oedura geckos preferred substrates (coarse sandpaper) with roughness characteristics similar to substrates they use in nature. Further, all three species exhibited greater clinging performance on preferred (coarse sandpaper) substrates, although the generalist used fine substrates in nature and had good performance capabilities on fine substrates as well. Conclusion We found a relationship between habitat use and performance, such that geckos selected microhabitats on which their performance was high. In addition, our findings highlight the extensive variation in surface roughnesses that occur in nature, both among and within microhabitats.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geckos cling best to, and prefer to use, rough surfaces

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“…However, activity can also vary within the day, with activity peaks adapted to the actual temperature and dependent on species' thermal limits (Wikström et al, 2009), a threshold that differs spatially from open habitats to closed forests (Xing et al, 2016). Similarly, leaf litter lizards will exploit sunspots or rare microclimates for thermoregulation, but only during cold morning hours (Nordberg & Schwarzkopf, 2019). Here, lizard activity varies with thermal heterogeneity driven both in time and by topographic roughness and aspect (Sears et al, 2016).…”

Section: Consequences Of Microclimates For Forest Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest microclimates and climate change: Importance, drivers and future research agenda

Frenne

Lenoir

Luoto

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

477

353

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Forest microclimates contrast strongly with the climate outside forests. To fully understand and better predict how forests' biodiversity and functions relate to climate and climate change, microclimates need to be integrated into ecological research. Despite the potentially broad impact of microclimates on the response of forest ecosystems to global change, our understanding of how microclimates within and below tree canopies modulate biotic responses to global change at the species, community and ecosystem level is still limited. Here, we review how spatial and temporal variation in forest microclimates result from an interplay of forest features, local water balance, topography and landscape composition. We first stress and exemplify the importance of considering forest microclimates to understand variation in biodiversity and ecosystem functions across forest landscapes. Next, we explain how macroclimate warming (of the free atmosphere) can affect microclimates, and vice versa, via interactions with land‐use changes across different biomes. Finally, we perform a priority ranking of future research avenues at the interface of microclimate ecology and global change biology, with a specific focus on three key themes: (1) disentangling the abiotic and biotic drivers and feedbacks of forest microclimates; (2) global and regional mapping and predictions of forest microclimates; and (3) the impacts of microclimate on forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the face of climate change. The availability of microclimatic data will significantly increase in the coming decades, characterizing climate variability at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales relevant to biological processes in forests. This will revolutionize our understanding of the dynamics, drivers and implications of forest microclimates on biodiversity and ecological functions, and the impacts of global changes. In order to support the sustainable use of forests and to secure their biodiversity and ecosystem services for future generations, microclimates cannot be ignored.

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“…Few studies have examined behavioural selection of microhabitats at night, perhaps because the thermal landscape at night is relatively homogeneous compared to the daytime thermal landscape (Du & Shine, 2015;Huey & Slatkin, 1976;Muñoz & Bodensteiner, 2019; Ørskov, Tregenza, & Overgaard, 2019). However, nocturnal lizards locate themselves in warmer areas of their habitat to achieve higher preferred body temperatures, although the precision of their thermoregulatory capacity may be reduced compared to that of daytime behaviour (Nordberg & Schwarzkopf, 2019;Tan & Schwanz, 2015). The importance of behavioural thermoregulation in nocturnal insects may be underappreciated, and its importance may turn out to be greater if higher daytime temperatures, due to climate change, shift animals towards more nocturnal behaviour (Levy et al, 2019).…”

Section: Behavioural Selection Of Warm Microhabitatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nocturnal dispersal flight of crickets: Behavioural and physiological responses to cool environmental temperatures

et al. 2020

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Flight of nocturnal insects may be limited by cool nighttime environmental temperatures. We used laboratory and field experiments to explore the thermal basis of nocturnal flight in wing‐polymorphic Gryllus lineaticeps crickets consisting of long‐winged (LW), flight‐capable morphs and short‐winged (SW), flight‐incapable morphs. These crickets are a model for life history evolution and loss of flight, but their thermal requirements for flight have been unknown. We hypothesized that LW crickets achieve warm body temperatures required for flight through a combination of behavioural thermoregulation, producing heat endogenously (either by initiating muscular thermogenesis or increasing resting metabolic rate) and minimizing heat loss (by circulatory adjustments or insulation). Summer evening air temperatures in the field gradually declined from 25 to 18°C during the hours of nighttime cricket activity. Laboratory LW crickets did not fly at a body temperature of 18°C, and 60% flew at 25°C. In an experimental thermal gradient, spontaneous flight did not occur until body temperature exceeded 35°C, confirming that nocturnal field air temperature limits flight in this species. In a thermal gradient, LW crickets preferred higher temperatures (~36°C) than SW crickets (~32.5°C). In the field, all crickets were warmer than air temperature but considerably cooler than their preferred temperatures. LW crickets had higher field body temperatures (24.3°C) than SW crickets (22.3°C). LW crickets spontaneously initiated muscular thermogenesis through wing vibrations, increasing body temperature to a pre‐flight maximum of 35°C. Muscular thermogenesis was limited below 25°C. LW crickets cooled more slowly and had higher metabolic rates than SW crickets. We conclude that LW crickets prepare to fly on cool nights by gaining heat from warm substrates, activating endogenous muscular thermogenesis and reducing their cooling rate. These mechanisms are absent or less pronounced in SW crickets. The overall thermoregulatory strategy we report represents a previously unrecognized component of insect dispersal polymorphism. We suggest that thermal constraints on nocturnal flight may have contributed to evolutionary loss of flight in other insect groups. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Heat seekers: A tropical nocturnal lizard uses behavioral thermoregulation to exploit rare microclimates at night

Cited by 33 publications

References 63 publications

Geckos cling best to, and prefer to use, rough surfaces

Geckos cling best to, and prefer to use, rough surfaces

Forest microclimates and climate change: Importance, drivers and future research agenda

Nocturnal dispersal flight of crickets: Behavioural and physiological responses to cool environmental temperatures

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