Meeting Abstract

P2.87  Monday, Jan. 5  How Does Spatial Variation in Climate Cause Spatiotemporal Patterns in Lizard Energetics? POWERS, S.D.*; ANDERSON, R.A.; Western Washington University; Western Washington University seandpowers.wwu@gmail.com

A lizards ability to be active and to acquire food for growth, storage, and reproduction is expected to be seasonally constrained by the complex, dynamic set of phenomena that comprise climate. Hence variation in climate among locales should vary in how they constrain lizard activity and production. The western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) occupies a diversity of ecosystems from southern California to central Washington. Two locales that contrast markedly in climate in Washington state, in the northern end of the species geographic range, are coastal temperate forest and the warm, dry pine-oak woodland of the states interior. How S. occidentalis is affected by this geographic climate change was examined by correlating daily and seasonal patterns of temperature, precipitation, and cloud cover with the patterns of lizard daily activity and energy expenditure, feeding rates and food availability along with related aspects of lizard population structure. Despite the greater food availability for coastal lizards, the lizards in the warm, sunny woodland site were active longer, ate more, and grew faster. Currently, the optimum climates for this species are not known, but future investigations of elevational and mesic-xeric gradients may enable predictions of population structure and population density patterns in the face of climate change.