Ćorović Jelena, Ćosić Nada, Crnobrnja-Isailović Jelka
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković"-National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Despota Stefana Boulevard 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Dec 17;14(24):3642. doi: 10.3390/ani14243642.
Many reptiles actively regulate their body temperature. During thermoregulation, they suffer evaporative water loss (EWL). Since evaporation increases with temperature, EWL could limit the activity of ectotherms when water is not available. In this study, we compared the preferred body temperatures (T) and EWL of two lacertid lizard species, and , at the western edge of 's range, where they live in syntopy. We hypothesized that , a species that inhabits forested and humid environments, would have a higher EWL than the more widespread . Our results show that prefers lower temperatures (mean T = 28.1 °C) than (mean T = 30.6 °C). Despite the differences in their thermal preferences, both species showed similar total EWL (2.76% for and 2.67% for ), although their daily patterns of water loss differed. Our results suggest that has developed mechanisms to control water loss and that its lower thermal preference may be due to both historical factors and local adaptations. These results contribute to the understanding of how environmental factors influence the physiology of lizards, which in turn has implications for predicting the effects of climate change on species distribution.
许多爬行动物会主动调节体温。在体温调节过程中，它们会出现蒸发失水（EWL）。由于蒸发随温度升高而增加，当没有水源时，蒸发失水可能会限制变温动物的活动。在本研究中，我们比较了两种蜥蜴（ 和 ）在 分布范围西缘同域分布时的偏好体温（T）和蒸发失水情况。我们假设，栖息于森林和潮湿环境的 ，其蒸发失水会高于分布更广的 。我们的研究结果表明， 偏好的温度（平均T = 28.1℃）低于 （平均T = 30.6℃）。尽管它们对温度的偏好存在差异，但两种蜥蜴的总蒸发失水相似（ 为2.76%， 为2.67%），不过它们每天的失水模式有所不同。我们的研究结果表明， 已经进化出控制失水的机制，其较低的温度偏好可能是历史因素和局部适应共同作用的结果。这些结果有助于理解环境因素如何影响蜥蜴的生理机能，进而对预测气候变化对物种分布的影响具有重要意义。
