Document Type
Article
Department
Biology (HMC)
Publication Date
1993
Abstract
Lizard life-history characteristics vary widely among species and populations. Most authors seek adaptive or phylogenetic explanations for life-history patterns, which are usually presumed to reflect genetic differences. However, lizard life histories are often phenotypically plastic, varying in response to temperature, food availability, and other environmental factors. Despite the importance of temperature to lizard ecology and physiology, its effects on life histories have received relatively little attention. We present a theoretical model predicting the proximate consequences of the thermal environment for lizard life histories. Temperature, by affecting activity times, can cause variation in annual survival rate and fecundity, leading to a negative correlation between survival rate and fecundity among populations in different thermal environments. Thus, physiological and evolutionary models predict the same qualitative pattern of life-history variation in lizards. We tested our model with published life-history data from field studies of the lizard Sceloporus undulatus, using climate and geographical data to reconstruct estimated annual activity seasons. Among populations, annual activity times were negatively correlated with annual survival rate and positively correlated with fecundity. Proximate effects of temperature may confound comparative analyses of lizard life-history variation and should be included in future evolutionary models.
Rights Information
© 1993 University of Chicago Press
Terms of Use & License Information
Recommended Citation
Adolph, S.C., and W.P. Porter. "Temperature, activity and lizard life histories." The American Naturalist 142.2 (1993): 273-295.
Comments
Previously linked to as: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/irw,335.
Publisher's pdf downloaded from journal's website.
Journal URL: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/journals/journal/an.html