LIZARD BEHAVIOR DICTATED BY RAINFALL.

• Position: CHIHUAHUAN WHIPTAIL

More and more as climate change increases temperatures globally and alters regional rainfall, scientists are finding that the activity and foraging behaviors of animals also must change in order to adapt to the ever-evolving environmental conditions.

For example, ectotherms, like lizards, alter their daily behaviors according to temperature variation as they grow, reproduce, and survive. As global and local mean temperatures increase, lizards respond to the higher temperatures by decreasing daily activity and reducing foraging time, particularly In sunlit locations, to limit heat gain.

To examine how wild lizards respond to changing temperature and rainfall, Mason Ryan, research scientist at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and his colleagues measured lizard responses in a pinon-juniper woodland.

The study species, Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail, is a thermo-regulator that shuttles between open and shaded microhabitats while actively foraging. Its daily activity requires considerable moisture. Because high tree mortality and canopy dieback have been reported in this study system, the research suggests that the resulting reduction of tree shade may have a cascading effect on lizards' ability to buffer against future...