Why tropical forest lizards are vulnerable to climate warming

Author:

Huey Raymond B.1,Deutsch Curtis A.2,Tewksbury Joshua J.1,Vitt Laurie J.3,Hertz Paul E.4,Álvarez Pérez Héctor J.5,Garland Theodore6

Affiliation:

1. Department of Biology, University of WashingtonPO Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

2. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA 90095, USA

3. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Department of Zoology, University of OklahomaNorman, OK 73072, USA

4. Department of Biology, Barnard CollegeNew York, NY 10027, USA

5. Faculty of Education, University of Puerto RicoRio Piedras, PR 00931, USA

6. Department of Biology, University of CaliforniaRiverside, CA 92521, USA

Abstract

Biological impacts of climate warming are predicted to increase with latitude, paralleling increases in warming. However, the magnitude of impacts depends not only on the degree of warming but also on the number of species at risk, their physiological sensitivity to warming and their options for behavioural and physiological compensation. Lizards are useful for evaluating risks of warming because their thermal biology is well studied. We conducted macrophysiological analyses of diurnal lizards from diverse latitudes plus focal species analyses of Puerto Rican Anolis and Sphaerodactyus . Although tropical lowland lizards live in environments that are warm all year, macrophysiological analyses indicate that some tropical lineages (thermoconformers that live in forests) are active at low body temperature and are intolerant of warm temperatures. Focal species analyses show that some tropical forest lizards were already experiencing stressful body temperatures in summer when studied several decades ago. Simulations suggest that warming will not only further depress their physiological performance in summer, but will also enable warm-adapted, open-habitat competitors and predators to invade forests. Forest lizards are key components of tropical ecosystems, but appear vulnerable to the cascading physiological and ecological effects of climate warming, even though rates of tropical warming may be relatively low.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine

Reference90 articles.

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2. Angilletta M.J. Thermal adaptation: a theoretical and empirical synthesis. 2009 Oxford UK:Oxford University Press.

3. The evolution of thermal physiology in ectotherms

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