Meeting Abstract
As humans continue to change the world, the effects of urbanization and climate change will be among the largest drivers of declines and extinctions. Furthermore, the interaction of climate on urban areas could have synergistic effects on individuals and populations. For six years, we have measured physiological parameters and estimated survival in side-blotched lizards in the urban center of Saint George, Utah, and in surrounding rural areas. Throughout the course of this work, droughts and wetter years have affected the reproductive investment, immunocompetence, and survival estimates differently in urban and rural populations. As the American Southwest is projected to grow increasingly hot and arid, these findings might help us predict how animals in urban areas will respond to climate change.
