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Plasticity of thermoregulatory behaviour in response to the thermal environment by widespread and alpine reptile species
Citation
Caldwell, AJ and While, GM and Wapstra, E, Plasticity of thermoregulatory behaviour in response to the thermal environment by widespread and alpine reptile species, Animal Behaviour, 132 pp. 217-227. ISSN 0003-3472 (2017) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.07.025
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity plays a central role in determining how organisms respond to environmental change over short timescales. Despite this, we know little about how phenotypic plasticity varies between populations or species. We tested the extent of plasticity in basking behaviour in low- and high-altitude populations of two widespread lowland and two highland species of a cool-climate lizard genus: Niveoscincus. We found evidence of divergence in basking behaviour between populations and species, with highland species and high-altitude populations of all species basking more than the widespread lowland species and low-altitude populations. Furthermore, we found differences in the extent of behavioural plasticity between species. Widespread lowland species altered their basking behaviour depending on basking opportunity whereas the highland species maintained high levels of basking independent of basking opportunity. These differences in basking behaviour were concordant with the differences in body temperature across all populations, species and treatments. Combined, this suggests that divergence in thermoregulatory behaviour and thermophysiology between populations and species may have been facilitated by adaptive behavioural plasticity within populations. We discuss this and the implications of our findings for the ability of these animals to cope with ongoing climate change.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | highland specialist, montane species, phenotypic plasticity, reptile, thermoregulation |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Behavioural ecology |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Caldwell, AJ (Mrs Mandy Caldwell) |
| UTAS Author: | While, GM (Associate Professor Geoff While) |
| UTAS Author: | Wapstra, E (Professor Erik Wapstra) |
| ID Code: | 121238 |
| Year Published: | 2017 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 28 |
| Deposited By: | Zoology |
| Deposited On: | 2017-09-19 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-05-09 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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