Functional responses in a lizard along a 3.5-km altitudinal gradient

Guerra Serén, Nina (avtor), Megía-Palma, Rodrigo (avtor), Simčič, Tatjana (avtor), Krofel, Miha (avtor), Guarino, Fabio Maria (avtor), Pinho, Catarina (avtor), Žagar, Anamarija (avtor), Carretero, Miguel A. (avtor)

Aim: Physiological and metabolic performance are key mediators of the functional response of species to environmental change. Few environments offer such a multifaceted array of stressors as high-altitude habitats, which differ markedly in temperature, water availability, UV radiation and oxygen pressure compared to low-altitude habitats. Species that inhabit large altitudinal gradients are thus excellent models to study how organisms respond to environmental variation. Location: Tenerife island, Canary Islands archipelago (Spain). Taxon: Tenerife lizard (Gallotia galloti, Lacertidae). Methods: We integrated data on age structure, thermal and hydric regulatory behaviour and four metabolic and stress-related biomarkers for an insular lizard that inhabits an extreme altitudinal range (sea level to 3700 m a.s.l.), to understand how an ectotherms' age, ecophysiology and metabolism can be affected by extreme environmental variation. Results: We found marked differences in metabolic stress markers associated with altitude (particularly in the abundance of carbonyl metabolites and relative telomere length), but without a linear pattern along the altitudinal cline. Contrary to expectations, longer telomeres and lower carbonyl content were detected at the highest altitude, suggesting reduced stress in these populations. Evaporative water loss differed between populations but did not follow a linear altitudinal gradient. Lizard age structure or thermal physiological performance did not markedly change across different altitudes. Mixed signals in life-history and thermal ecology across populations and altitude suggest complex responses to variable conditions across altitude in this species. Main Conclusions: Our integrative study of multiple functional traits demonstrated that adaptation to highly divergent environmental conditions in this lizard is potentially linked to an interplay between plasticity and local adaptation variably associated with different functional traits.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: ecophysiology, evaporative water loss, metabolic activity, oxidative stress, preferred temperatures, relative telomere length, skeletochronology
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
• Organizacija: BF - Biotehniška fakulteta
• Status publikacije: Objavljeno
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Datum objave: 01.01.2023
• Leto izida: 2023
• Št. strani: str. 2042-2056
• Številčenje: iss. 12, Vol. 50
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-150469
• UDK: 59
• ISSN pri članku: 1365-2699
• DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14711
• COBISS.SI-ID: 164393731
• Datum objave v RUL: 18.09.2023

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: Journal of biogeography
• Skrajšan naslov: J. Biogeogr.
• Založnik: Blackwell Science
• ISSN: 1365-2699
• COBISS.SI-ID: 26449965

Licence

• Licenca: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Priznanje avtorstva-Nekomercialno 4.0 Mednarodna
• Povezava: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.sl
• Opis: Licenca Creative Commons, ki prepoveduje komercialno uporabo, vendar uporabniki ne rabijo upravljati materialnih avtorskih pravic na izpeljanih delih z enako licenco.

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: ekofiziologija, izguba vode, metabolna aktivnost, oksidativni stres, preferenčna temperatura, relativna dolžina telomer, skeletokronologija

Projekti

• Financer: ARRS - Agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije
• Številka projekta: P4-0059-2020
• Naslov: Gozd, gozdarstvo in obnovljivi gozdni viri