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Water availability and environmental temperature correlate with geographic variation in water balance in common lizards

  • Physiological ecology - original research
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Abstract

Water conservation strategies are well documented in species living in water-limited environments, but physiological adaptations to water availability in temperate climate environments are still relatively overlooked. Yet, temperate species are facing more frequent and intense droughts as a result of climate change. Here, we examined variation in field hydration state (plasma osmolality) and standardized evaporative water loss rate (SEWL) of adult male and pregnant female common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) from 13 natural populations with contrasting air temperature, air humidity, and access to water. We found different patterns of geographic variation between sexes. Overall, males were more dehydrated (i.e. higher osmolality) than pregnant females, which likely comes from differences in field behaviour and water intake since the rate of SEWL was similar between sexes. Plasma osmolality and SEWL rate were positively correlated with environmental temperature in males, while plasma osmolality in pregnant females did not correlate with environmental conditions, reproductive stage or reproductive effort. The SEWL rate was significantly lower in populations without access to free standing water, suggesting that lizards can adapt or adjust physiology to cope with habitat dryness. Environmental humidity did not explain variation in water balance. We suggest that geographic variation in water balance physiology and behaviour should be taken account to better understand species range limits and sensitivity to climate change.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Pauline Blaimont, Pauline Dufour, Laurène Duhalde, Amélie Faure, Julia Rense, and Qiang Wu for their help with fieldwork. We also thank Clotilde Biard for lending us some of the loggers. We are grateful to the ‘Office Nationale des Forêts’, the ‘Parc National des Cévennes’, and the regions Auvergne, Rhône Alpes and Languedoc Roussillon for allowing us to sample lizards. This study was funded by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-13-JSV7-0011-01 to SM) and the National Science Foundation (NSF-EF1241848 to DBM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS UPMC, UMR 7618, iEES Paris, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Tours 44-45, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Andréaz Dupoué, Jean François Le Galliard & Sandrine Meylan

  2. Station d’Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, UMR 5321, 2 route du CNRS, 09200, Saint Girons, France

    Alexis Rutschmann & Jean Clobert

  3. Département de biologie, Ecole normale supérieure, PSL Research University, CNRS, UMS 3194, Centre de recherche en écologie expérimentale et prédictive (CEREEP-Ecotron IleDeFrance), 78 rue du château, 77140, Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours, France

    Jean François Le Galliard

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Donald B. Miles

  5. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

    Dale F. DeNardo & George A. Brusch IV

  6. ESPE de Paris, Université Sorbonne Paris IV, 10 rue Molitor, 75016, Paris, France

    Sandrine Meylan

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  1. Andréaz Dupoué
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  2. Alexis Rutschmann
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  3. Jean François Le Galliard
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  4. Donald B. Miles
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  7. George A. Brusch IV
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Contributions

AD, AR, JFLG, DBM, JC, and SM conceived the ideas and designed methodology; AD, AR, JFLG, DBM, JC, and SM captured lizards; AD and AR collected water loss data; AD, GAB, and DD collected osmolality data; AD analysed the data; AD and AR led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Andréaz Dupoué.

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Communicated by Hannu J. Ylonen.

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Dupoué, A., Rutschmann, A., Le Galliard, J.F. et al. Water availability and environmental temperature correlate with geographic variation in water balance in common lizards. Oecologia 185, 561–571 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3973-6

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