Meeting Abstract
Warming climates are projected to shift the activity patterns of many animals. While animals with longer periods of activity have a higher potential for somatic growth, some locally adapted populations may deviate from this expectation. We studied two populations of Sceloporus occidentalis in Washington State, one in a cool climate and one in a warm climate. The cooler climate restricts activity, yet individuals from this population still reach a fatter body condition. Individuals from the cool site also expend more energy daily on maintenance metabolism but have higher food availability. As such, we hypothesize that higher food availability at the cool site may permit greater seasonal maintenance energy expenditure that still results in more residual energy left for storage. To evaluate our hypothesis, we use estimates of activity time and measures of maintenance metabolism to calculate seasonal maintenance energy expenditure. We then subtract these values from seasonal daily energy intake estimates to calculate residual energy supply. While activity patterns of many animals are expected to shift with warming climates, food availability may play a key role in offsetting potential energetic consequences.
