Environmental Gradients in Lizard Colouration.

ABSTRACT: Environmental pressures shape animal colouration, facilitating adaptation to local conditions. However, the extent to which climatic gradients drive colour variation in a species across its distributional range remains unclear. Here, we tested whether the dorsal colouration of Lusitanian wall lizards (Podarcis lusitanicus) varies spatially in response to environmental gradients across its distribution in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. We estimated dorsal colour brightness (i.e., lightness) from multispectral photographs of 463 animals, originating from 21 locations distributed across the species range. We studied direct and indirect (mediated by body mass) relationships between environmental variables and the lightness of lizards, by piecewise structural equation modelling. We

SUBMITTER: Sreelatha LB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11871090 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature