title: Thermal ecology of montane Atelopus (Anura: Bufonidae): A study of intrageneric diversity.
abstract: Harlequin frogs (Bufonidae: Atelopus) are among the most threatened frog genus in the world and reach very high elevations in the tropical Andes and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM). Learning about their thermal ecology is essential to infer sensitivity to environmental changes, particularly climate warming. We report on the activity temperature and thermoregulatory behavior of three high-elevation species of harlequin frogs, Atelopus nahumae, Atelopus laetissimus and Atelopus carrikeri. The first two mentioned live in streams in Andean rain forests, whereas A. carrikeri inhabits paramo streams in the SNSM. We studied the thermal ecology of these species in tree localities differing in altitude, and focused on activity body, operative, substrate and air temperature. A main trend was lower body temperature as elevation increased, so that differences among species were largely explained by differences in substrate temperature. However, this temperature variation was much lower in forest species than paramo species. The Atelopus species included in this work proved to be thermoconformers, a trend that not extended to all congenerics at high elevation. This diversity in thermal ecology poses important questions when discussing the impact of climate warming for high-elevation harlequin frogs. For example, forest species show narrow thermal ranges and, if highly specialized, may be more susceptible to temperature change. Paramo species such as A. carrikeri, in contrast, may be more resilient to temperature change.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad del Magdalena, Carrera 32 No 22 - 08, CP: 470004, Santa Marta D.T.C.H, Colombia; Departmento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá D.C., Colombia. Electronic address: biologoluisrueda@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Luis Alberto
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rueda Solano
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Navas
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Carvajalino-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá D.C., Colombia.
authors.forename: Adolfo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amézquita
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001831:Body Temperature; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D002025:Bufonidae / Q000502:physiology*; D002980:Climate; D065928:Forests; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Activity body temperature; Operative temperature; Sierra Nevada De Santa Marta; Thermoconformers; Thermoregulation