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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

The comparative field body temperature among Liolaemus lizards: Testing the static and the labile hypotheses

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Author(s):
Rodriguez-Serrano, Enrique [1] ; Navas, Carlos A. [2] ; Bozinovic, Francisco [1]
Total Authors: 3
Affiliation:
[1] Pontificia Univ Catolica Chile, CASEB, LINC Global, Dept Ecol, Santiago 6513677 - Chile
[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Fisiol, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 2
Document type: Journal article
Source: Journal of Thermal Biology; v. 34, n. 6, p. 306-309, AUG 2009.
Web of Science Citations: 21
Abstract

Two competing hypotheses have been suggested to explain thermal sensitivity of lizards to environmental conditions. These are the static and the labile hypotheses. The static hypothesis posits that thermal physiology is evolutionary conservative and consequently relatively insensitive to directional selection. Contrarily, the labile hypothesis states that thermal physiology does respond readily to directional selection in some lizard taxa. In this paper, we tested both hypotheses among species of Liolaemus lizards. The genus Liolaemus is diverse with about 200 species, being broadly distributed from central Peru to Tierra del Fuego at the southern end of South America. Data of field body temperature (T(b)) from Liolaemus species were collected from the literature. Based on the distributional range of the species we also collected data of mean annual ambient temperatures. We observed that both the traditional analysis and the phylogenetic approach indicate that in the genus Liolaemus T(b) of species varies in a manner that is consistent with ecological gradient of ambient temperature. The data suggest that the thermal physiology of Liolaemus lizards is evolutionarily flexible, and that this plasticity has been partially responsible for the colonization of a wide array of thermal environments. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 03/01577-8 - Causes and correlations of physiological variation: role of environmental and behavioral gradients at different levels of organization
Grantee:Carlos Arturo Navas Iannini
Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants