Latitudinal Clines in an Ectothermic Vertebrate: Patterns in Body Size, Growth Rate, and Reproductive Effort Suggest Countergradient Responses in the Prairie Lizard.

ABSTRACT: Although we have evidence that many organisms are exhibiting declines in body size in response to climate warming, we have little knowledge of underlying mechanisms or how associated phenotypic suites may coevolve. The better we understand coadaptations among physiology, morphology, and life history, the more accurate our predictions will be of organismal response to changing thermal environments. This is especially salient for ectotherms because they comprise 99% of species worldwide and are key to functioning ecosystems. Here, we assess body size, growth rates, and reproductive traits of a vertebrate ectotherm, the prairie lizard, Sceloporus consobrinus, for multiple populations along a latitudinal thermal gradient and compare body size clines between S. consobrinus and eas

SUBMITTER: Robbins TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11664205 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature