Acclimation, acclimatization, and seasonal variation in amphibians and reptiles

Abstract

Amphibians and reptiles are ectotherms and therefore do not produce and retain sufficient metabolic heat to alter their body temperatures. Instead, body temperatures are determined by heat transfer with the environment (by radiation, convection, evaporation, and conduction). There are different approaches reptiles and amphibians use to cope with seasonal variation in temperature. This chapter focuses on strategies reptiles and amphibians use to compensate for seasonal variations in temperature. There are different evolutionary pathways to maintain performance in response to temperature variation at different time scales. The chapter shows that acclimation responses may be more dynamic than previously assumed, and that although locomotor performance is a whole-animal measure, it is comprised of complex traits that are not necessarily regulated as a whole. It demonstrates how behavioral thermoregulation and thermal acclimation do not necessarily represent mutually exclusive thermal responses. Behavioral thermoregulation and thermal acclimation represent two fundamentally different strategies ectotherms use to overcome variation in their thermal environments.