10.5061/DRYAD.J5R33
Leal, Manuel
Duke University
Gunderson, Alex R.
Duke University
Data from: Rapid change in the thermal tolerance of a tropical lizard
Dryad
dataset
2012
Evolution: physiological
Anolis cristatellus
Environmental variability
Physiology: thermal
Lizards
2012-07-10T20:04:32Z
2012-07-10T20:04:32Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1086/668077
1980 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The predominant view is that the thermal physiology of tropical
ectotherms, including lizards, is not labile over ecological timescales.
We used the recent introduction (∼35 years ago) of the Puerto Rican lizard
Anolis cristatellus to Miami, Florida, to test this thermal rigidity
hypothesis. We measured lower (critical thermal minimum [CTmin]) and upper
(critical thermal maximum [CTmax]) thermal tolerances and found that the
introduced population tolerates significantly colder temperatures (by
∼3°C) than does the Puerto Rican source population; however, CTmax did not
differ. These results mirror the thermal regimes experienced by each
population: Miami reaches colder ambient temperatures than Puerto Rico,
but maximum ambient temperatures are similar. The differences in CTmin
were observed even though lizards from both sites experienced nearly
identical conditions for 49 days before CTmin measurement. Our results
demonstrate that changes in thermal tolerance occurred relatively rapidly
(∼35 generations), which strongly suggests that the thermal physiology of
tropical lizards is more labile than previously proposed.
am nat dryad ctdata
Puerto Rico
Florida