Abstract
Climate change is negatively affecting many species. The increase in mean air temperature is often associated with shifts in distribution, changes in phenology, and local extinctions. Other factors that only partially correlate with air temperature, like water shortage, may also contribute to the negative consequences of climate change. Although the effect of temperature on lizards’ ecophysiology is highly studied, many lizards are also at risks of increased water loss and dehydration, which are predicted to increase under climate change. Here we aimed for the first time to explore if lacertid lizards exposed to dehydration thermoregulate less precisely than hydrated lizards and if dehydrated lizards are less active, change the daily pattern of thermoregulation and balance water balance against thermoregulation. We exposed four lizard species with differences in the thermal preference to thermal gradients with or without a source of water. We measured preferred body temperatures, daily pattern of thermoregulation, and the use of space. Dehydration negatively affected thermoregulation in all investigated species. Dehydrated lizards reduced their preferred body temperature and showed a species-specific pattern of hourly change in thermal preference. Furthermore, they more frequently used the colder parts of the gradients and spent more time hidden. Lizards experiencing dehydration may suffer a reduction in survival and fitness because of poor thermoregulation. Similarly, they may spend more time hidden, waiting for more favourable weather conditions. Such inactivity may carry ecological costs especially in those regions that undergo either short or prolonged periods of droughts.
Highlights
Changing climatic conditions over the past decades are affecting many animal species [1]
When the daily effect of dehydration on thermoregulation was considered, that is, the interaction treatment × time, and we found that its effect was significant for all species (P. bocagei tvalue = 3.308, d.f. = 546, P = 0.001; P. carbonelli t-value = 2.769, d.f. = 470, P = 0.006; P. guadarramae t-value = 4.355, d.f. = 565, P < 0.0001; P. virescens t-value = 3.724, d.f. = 603, P = 0.0002)
The present study shows that dehydration may negatively affect thermoregulation in lacertid lizards by forcing them to select body temperatures lower than the preferred ones
Summary
Changing climatic conditions over the past decades are affecting many animal species [1]. Many taxa are experiencing range shifts [2], change in phenology [3], and local extinction [4] among other effects. Climate change rate is not globally uniform [5], and some regions are experiencing a faster rise in temperature than others [6]. Extreme climatic events, like heatwaves [7] and droughts [8] are becoming more common in some regions, like the Mediterranean basin [9]. Some species are more exposed to climate change either because they live in areas from which they cannot escape, like.
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