Metabolic Compensation Associated With Digestion in Response to the Latitudinal Thermal Environment Across Populations of the Prairie Lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus).

ABSTRACT: Environmental temperatures directly affect physiological rates in ectotherms by constraining the possible body temperatures they can achieve, with physiological processes slowing as temperatures decrease and accelerating as temperatures increase. As environmental constraints increase, as they do northward along the latitudinal thermal gradient, organisms must adapt to compensate for the slower physiological processes or decreased opportunity time. Evolving faster general metabolic rates is one adaptive response posited by the metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) hypothesis. Here we test the MCA hypothesis by examining metabolism of prairie lizard populations across the latitudinal thermal gradient. Our results show that populations from cooler environments have higher standard metabolic rates (

SUBMITTER: Haussmann BD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11788876 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature