Meeting Abstract
One major goal in evolutionary ecology is estimating the potential of organisms to respond to altered thermal niches as a consequence of climate warming. One potential response is for individuals to track shifting habitats. However, many species have limited dispersal capacities, which suggests that plasticity or adaptive shifts in their thermal traits are the only potential responses. Furthermore, species may use behavioral compensation to moderate the influence of environmental variation on physiological processes (Bogert effect). Salamanders in the family Plethodontidae are an ideal group for testing whether behavioral compensation results in the ability of species to exploit benign thermal environments. Plethodondids are lungless and breathe through their skin, resulting in high sensitivity to temperature and moisture. Most species have limited home ranges and low dispersal capacities, which suggests that behavioral compensation may enhance the persistence of species in altered thermal niches. We tested the Bogert effect by determining whether three species of plethodontid salamanders exhibit divergent habitat preferences at different portions of their range to maintain similar thermal and hydric conditions. We determined whether behavioral compensation allows species to maintain similar physiological performance, measured as cutaneous water loss (CWL), across habitats that vary in thermal/hydric quality. We also modeled how the temporal and spatial distribution of microhabitats exploited by plethodontid salamanders may change as a consequence of rising temperatures and altered precipitation regimes.
