2026-11-02 イェール大学
Male yellow-chinned anole (Anolis gundlachi) below the canopy at El Verde Field Station, Puerto Rico. Photo by Saúl F. Domínguez-Guerrero
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.yale.edu/2026/11/02/evolution-act-study-reveals-species-changes-warming-world
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2537152123
熱生態学は、カリブ海のアノールトカゲにおける気温上昇に対する代替的な反応を促進する Thermal ecology drives alternate responses to rising temperatures in Caribbean anoles
Saúl F. Domínguez-Guerrero, Brooke L. Bodensteiner, Sarah T. Friedman, +4 , and Martha M. Muñoz
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Published:November 2, 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2537152123
Abstract
Rapidly rising temperatures threaten populations of ectothermic animals worldwide, with the greatest impacts predicted in the tropics—hotspots for biodiversity. Ectotherms can respond to warming through two primary compensatory responses: behavioral thermoregulation, which buffers exposure to extreme temperatures; and heat tolerance increases via plasticity, adaptation, or both. The relative contribution of these responses is predicted to depend on ecological context, but whether these principles can anticipate organismal responses to contemporary warming remains largely untested. Here, using a decadal resurvey of anole lizards from Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, we show that simple principles of thermal ecology can reliably anticipate organismal responses to rising temperatures. Species occupying thermally heterogeneous open/edge habitats, such as dry forests, behaviorally thermoregulate and have shown little to no increase in heat tolerance over the past decade. By contrast, species from thermally homogeneous closed-canopy environments are poor thermoregulators and have increased their heat tolerance by 2 °C, on average, over the same period. Seasonal comparisons, acclimation experiments, and laboratory-rearing experiments indicate that contemporary increases in heat tolerance likely reflect contributions from rapid evolutionary change and physiological plasticity. Thermal ecology, not phylogenetic or spatial proximity, is the key factor driving responses to rising temperatures. Our results consistently link organismal responses to habitat complexity and thermoregulatory behavior; we suggest that these factors are key to predicting how ectotherms respond to climate warming.
