As we know, anoles are ectotherms which could spell trouble under a changing climate. By closely relying on the temperature of their environment to regulate all sorts of physiological processes, anoles may be at risk when the environmental temperature shifts due to climate change. Because of this, many studies have measured traits which describe a lizard’s thermal physiology, and two popular traits are the lizard’s preferred temperature (Tpref) and heat tolerance. But few studies have looked at a) how repeatable these traits are in any individual and b) whether the two are correlated!

Shannan Yates stands next to her SICB poster.

Shannan with her poster at SICB 2022 in Phoenix.

Shannan Yates, a graduate student at Tulane University in Dr. Alex Gunderson’s lab endeavored to do just this, and presented the results at SICB this year with a very compelling poster. Shannan hypothesized that if Tpref was measured twice in the same individual, that these temperatures should be repeatable. Secondly, she hypothesized that preferred temperature would be correlated with heat tolerance, as these traits are expected to be phenotypically linked, and individuals with high heat tolerances should prefer higher temperatures.

Interestingly, though, Shannan found quite the opposite! Tpref was neither repeatable nor correlated with heat tolerance! This has important implications for many studies which attempt to quantify these traits in Anolis lizards. Shannan concluded that either thermal preference is flexible, or that the current methods used to study Tpref may affect our measurements. Also, thermal preference may not actually be correlated with thermal tolerance at an individual level, or our current methods are indeed obscuring a relationship.

Shannan’s poster is up on SICB+, so be sure to check out the data for yourself, and check out Shannan on twitter here! 

Latest posts by Claire Williams (see all)