Temperature, activity, and lizard life histories

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · American Naturalist; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/285538· OSTI ID:5894719

Adolph, S C; Porter, W P ^[1]

---

1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Lizard life-history characteristics vary widely among species and populations. Most authors seek adaptive or phylogenetic explanations for life-history patterns, which are usually presumed to reflect genetic differences. However, lizard life histories are often phenotypically plastic, varying in response to temperature, food availability, and other environmental factors. Despite the importance of temperature to lizard ecology and physiology, its effects on life histories have received relatively little attention. The authors present a theoretical model predicting the proximate consequences of the thermal environment for lizard life histories. Temperature, by affecting activity times, can cause variation in annual survival rate and fecundity, leading to a negative correlation between survival rate and fecundity among populations in different thermal environments. Thus, physiological and evolutionary models predict the same qualitative pattern of life-history variation in lizards. They tested their model with published life-history data from field studies of the lizard Sceloporus undulatus, using climate and geographical data to reconstruct estimated annual activity seasons. Among populations, annual activity times were negatively correlated with annual survival rate and positively correlated with annual fecundity. Proximate effects of temperature may confound comparative analyses of lizard life-history variation and should be included in future evolutionary models. 125 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

• DOE Contract Number: FG02-88ER60633
• OSTI ID: 5894719
• Journal Information: American Naturalist; (United States), Journal Name: American Naturalist; (United States) Vol. 142:2; ISSN AMNTA4; ISSN 0003-0147
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

551000* -- Physiological Systems
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
HABITAT
LIFE CYCLE
LIFE SPAN
LIZARDS
PHYSIOLOGY
POPULATION DYNAMICS
REPTILES
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
VARIATIONS
VERTEBRATES