Configuration of the thermal landscape determines thermoregulatory performance of ectotherms.
Although most organisms thermoregulate behaviorally, biologists still cannot easily predict whether mobile animals will thermoregulate in natural environments. Current models fail because they ignore how the spatial distribution of thermal resources constrains thermoregulatory performance over space and time. To overcome this limitation, we modeled the spatially explicit movements of animals constrained by access to thermal resources. Our models predict that ectotherms thermoregulate more accurately when thermal resources are dispersed throughout space than when these resources are clumped. This prediction was supported by thermoregulatory behaviors of lizards in outdoor arenas with known distributions of environmental temperatures. Further, simulations showed how the spatial structure of the landscape qualitatively affects responses of animals to climate. Biologists will need spatially explicit models to predict impacts of climate change on local scales.
Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634; sears3@g.clemson.edu.
Michael W
MW
Sears
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287;
Michael J
MJ
Angilletta
Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180;
Matthew S
MS
Schuler
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287;
Jason
J
Borchert
Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Bronx, NY 10458;
Katherine F
KF
Dilliplane
College of Earth, Ocean, and the Environment, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716;
Monica
M
Stegman
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287;
Travis W
TW
Rusch
Department of Biology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809.
William A
WA
Mitchell
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D057231:Climate Change; D004777:Environment; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013696:Temperature
behavioral thermoregulation; individual-based model; spatial ecology; thermal ecology; thermal heterogeneity