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Temperature and telomeres: thermal treatment influences telomere dynamics through a complex interplay of cellular processes in a cold‑climate skink

Telomere dynamics vary fundamentally between endothermic populations and species as a result of differences in life history, yet we know little about these patterns in ectotherms. In ectotherms, the relationships between climate, metabolism and life history suggest that telomere attrition should be higher at relatively high environmental temperatures compared to relatively low environmental temperatures, but these effects may vary between populations due to local adaptation. To address this hypothesis, we sampled reactive oxygen species (ROS) and telomere length of lizards from warm lowland and cool highland populations of a climatically widespread lizard species that we exposed to hot or cold basking treatments. The hot treatment increased relative telomere length compared to the cold treatment independent of climatic origin or ROS levels. Lizards from the cool highland region had lower ROS levels than those from the warm lowland region. Within the highland lizards, ROS increased more in the cold basking treatment than the hot basking treatment. These results are in the opposite direction to those predicted, suggesting that the relationships between temperature, metabolism, ROS and telomere dynamics are not straightforward. Future work incorporating detailed understanding of the thermal reaction norms of these and other linked traits is needed to fully understand these processes.

History

Publication title

Oecologia

Volume

191

Issue

4

Pagination

767-776

ISSN

0029-8549

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Springer-Verlag

Place of publication

175 Fifth Ave, New York, USA, Ny, 10010

Rights statement

Copyright 2019 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences

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