Artículo
Thermal limits along tropical elevational gradients: Poison frog tadpoles show plasticity but maintain divergence across elevation
Fecha de publicación:
02/2024
Editorial:
Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
Revista:
Journal of Thermal Biology
ISSN:
0306-4565
e-ISSN:
1879-0992
Idioma:
Inglés
Tipo de recurso:
Artículo publicado
Clasificación temática:
Resumen
Temperature is arguably one of the most critical environmental factors impacting organisms at molecular, organismal, and ecological levels. Temperature variation across elevation may cause divergent selection in physiological critical thermal limits (CTMAX and CTMIN). Generally, high elevation populations are predicted to withstand lower environmental temperatures than low elevation populations. Organisms can also exhibit phenotypic plasticity when temperature varies, although theory and empirical evidence suggest that tropical ectotherms have relatively limited ability to acclimate. To study the effect of temperature variation along elevational transects on thermal limits, we measured CTMAX and CTMIN of 934 tadpoles of a poison frog species, Epipedobates anthonyi, along two elevational gradients (200–1700 m asl) in southwestern Ecuador to investigate their thermal tolerance across elevation. We also tested if tadpoles could plastically shift their critical thermal limits in response to exposure to different temperatures representing the range of temperatures they experience in nature (20 °C, 24 °C, and 28 °C). Overall, we found that CTMAX did not change across elevation. In contrast, CTMIN was lower at higher elevations, suggesting that elevational variation in temperature influences this thermal trait. Moreover, all populations shifted their CTMAX and CTMIN according to treatment temperatures, demonstrating an acclimation response. Overall, trends in CTMIN among high, mid, and low elevation populations were maintained despite plastic responses to treatment temperature. These results demonstrate that, for tadpoles of E. anthonyi across tropical elevational gradients, temperature acts as a selective force for CTMIN, even when populations show acclimation abilities in both, CTMAX and CTMIN. Our findings advance our understanding on how environmental variation affects organisms’ evolutionary trajectories and their abilities to persist in a changing climate in a tropical biodiversity hotspot.
Palabras clave:
THERMAL LIMITS
,
AQUATIC ECTOTHERMS
,
TROPICAL MOUNTAINS
,
ACCLIMATION
,
AMPHIBIANS
Archivos asociados
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Identificadores
Colecciones
Articulos(IPEEC)
Articulos de INSTITUTO PATAGONICO PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LOS ECOSISTEMAS CONTINENTALES
Articulos de INSTITUTO PATAGONICO PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LOS ECOSISTEMAS CONTINENTALES
Citación
Paez Vacas, Monica Isabel; Funk, W. Chris; Thermal limits along tropical elevational gradients: Poison frog tadpoles show plasticity but maintain divergence across elevation; Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd; Journal of Thermal Biology; 120; 103815; 2-2024; 1-12
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