Digest: Predicting the future by learning from the past in lizards' thermal traits

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Herpetology
• Climate change adaptation

Background:

• Understanding the evolution of thermal traits is crucial for predicting species' responses to global climate change.
• The Liolaemidae lizard family offers a diverse model for studying thermal trait evolution due to varied habitats and reproductive modes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the evolutionary dynamics of thermal traits in the Liolaemidae lizard family.
• To determine how body temperature and preferred temperature have evolved in response to past climate fluctuations.
• To assess the implications of these evolutionary patterns for climate change resilience.

Main Methods:

• Phylogenetic comparative methods were used to analyze the evolutionary history of thermal traits.
• Reconstruction of ancestral states for body temperature and preferred body temperature.
• Analysis of trait evolution in relation to paleoclimate data over the last ~20,000 years.

Main Results:

• Lizard body temperature has evolved in parallel with changes in ambient air temperature over the past ~20,000 years.
• Preferred body temperature for physiological functions has evolved at a significantly lower rate than body temperature.
• Viviparous species exhibit a greater capacity to buffer against climate change due to lower natural body temperatures.

Conclusions:

• The differential evolution of body and preferred temperatures provides a crucial buffer for Liolaemidae lizards against climate change.
• Oviparous species inhabiting arid environments are identified as particularly vulnerable to extinction due to climate change.
• This study provides a framework for understanding thermal trait evolution and its impact on species' vulnerability.