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Dryad

Data from: Rapid change in the thermal tolerance of a tropical lizard

Cite this dataset

Leal, Manuel; Gunderson, Alex R. (2012). Data from: Rapid change in the thermal tolerance of a tropical lizard [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j5r33

Abstract

The predominant view is that the thermal physiology of tropical ectotherms, including lizards, is not labile over ecological timescales. We used the recent introduction (∼35 years ago) of the Puerto Rican lizard Anolis cristatellus to Miami, Florida, to test this thermal rigidity hypothesis. We measured lower (critical thermal minimum [CTmin]) and upper (critical thermal maximum [CTmax]) thermal tolerances and found that the introduced population tolerates significantly colder temperatures (by ∼3°C) than does the Puerto Rican source population; however, CTmax did not differ. These results mirror the thermal regimes experienced by each population: Miami reaches colder ambient temperatures than Puerto Rico, but maximum ambient temperatures are similar. The differences in CTmin were observed even though lizards from both sites experienced nearly identical conditions for 49 days before CTmin measurement. Our results demonstrate that changes in thermal tolerance occurred relatively rapidly (∼35 generations), which strongly suggests that the thermal physiology of tropical lizards is more labile than previously proposed.

Usage notes

Location

Puerto Rico
Florida