Does thermoregulation drive the evolution of dorsal coloration in tropidurid lizards?

• Grant number: 18/17251-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: April 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Arturo Navas Iannini
• Grantee: Dylan Jose Padilla Perez
• Supervisor: Michael Angilletta
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Arizona State University, Tempe (ASU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/21747-8 - Trade-off between behavioral thermoregulation and hydration status in the false coral snake Oxyrhopus guibei (Serpentes, Dipsadidae), BP.MS

Abstract

Whether the color of an animal plays a signicant role in thermoregulation has been a persistent question in studies of thermal biology of ectotherms. This research proposal is based on the synthesis of the color-mediated thermoregulation hypothesis which states that dark individuals (i.e. lower skin reflectance) are at an advantage under conditions of low temperature since they warm up faster than light individuals at a given level of solar radiation. Although skin color is an important trait in the thermal biology of ectotherms, it has been explored mostly in insects and some reptiles of temperate zones. The aim of this project is to establish a new collaboration between research groups at the Arizona State University, the Federal University of Sao Paulo and the University of Sao Paulo in order to test the hypothesis that the dorsal color and climate variables such as mean annual temperature and global solar radiation (of the sample localities) are related across species of tropidurid lizards. Here, we will therefore examine the color-mediated thermoregulation hypothesis in a evolutionary context in heliothermic lizard species, using standard and phylogenetically corrected analyses. We expect that lizards with low skin reflectance occur at localities with relatively low mean anual temperature and solar radiation, conversely, lizards with high skin reflectance occur at localities with relatively high mean anual temperature and solar radiation.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VIMMERSTEDT, JON C.; PADILLA PEREZ, DYLAN J.; ANGILLETTA, JR., MICHAEL J.; VANDENBROOKS, JOHN M.. Oxygen supply limits the heat tolerance of avian embryos. BIOLOGY LETTERS, v. 15, n. 11, NOV 2019. (17/21747-8, 18/17251-0)

PEREZ, DYLAN J. PADILLA; ANGILLETTA, MICHAEL J., JR.. Macroclimatic and maternal effects on the evolution of reproductive traits in lizards. ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, v. 12, n. 5, p. 9-pg., 2022-05-01. (18/17251-0, 17/21747-8)