Thermal ecology and baseline energetic requirements of a large-bodied ectotherm suggest resilience to climate change.

ABSTRACT: Most studies on how rising temperatures will impact terrestrial ectotherms have focused on single populations or multiple sympatric species. Addressing the thermal and energetic implications of climatic variation on multiple allopatric populations of a species will help us better understand how a species may be impacted by altered climates.We used eight years of thermal and behavioral data collected from four populations of Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus) living in climatically distinct habitat types (inland and coastal) to determine the field-active and laboratory-preferred body temperatures, thermoregulatory metrics, and maintenance energetic requirements of snakes from each population.Physical models showed that thermal quality was best at coastal sites, but inland snake

SUBMITTER: Crowell HL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8216919 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature