title: Does thermal ecology influence dynamics of side-blotched lizards and their micro-parasites?
abstract: Hosts and parasites form interacting populations that influence each other in multiple ways. Their dynamics can also be influenced by environmental and ecological factors. We studied host-parasite dynamics in a previously unexplored study system: side-blotched lizards and their micro-parasites. Compared with uninfected lizards, the infected lizards elected to bask at lower temperatures that were outside their range of preferred temperatures. Infected lizards also were not as precise as uninfected lizards in maintaining their body temperatures within a narrow range. At the ecological scale, areas with higher infection rates coincided with more thermally heterogeneous microhabitats as well as with the areas where lizards tended to live longer. Thermal heterogeneity of lizards' microhabitats may provide important clues to the spatial and temporal distribution of infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA dhana4shree@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dhanashree A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Paranjpe
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Dianna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Sharayu A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Paranjpe
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sinervo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D002140:California; D004777:Environment; D016783:Eucoccidiida / Q000502:physiology*; D008116:Lizards / Q000469:parasitology*; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature