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Is salamander arboreality limited by broad-scale climatic conditions?

ABSTRACT: Identifying the historical processes that drive microhabitat transitions across deep time is of great interest to evolutionary biologists. Morphological variation can often reveal such mechanisms, but in clades with high microhabitat diversity and no concomitant morphological specialization, the factors influencing animal transitions across microhabitats are more difficult to identify. Lungless salamanders (family: Plethodontidae) have transitioned into and out of the arboreal microhabitat many times throughout their evolutionary history without substantial morphological specialization. In this study, we explore the relationship between microhabitat use and broad-scale climatic patterns across species' ranges to test the role of climate in determining the availability of the arboreal microhabitat. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we reveal that arboreal species live in warmer, lower elevation regions than terrestrial species. We also employ ecological niche modeling as a complementary approach, quantifying species-level pairwise comparisons of niche overlap. The results of this approach demonstrate that arboreal species on average display more niche overlap with other arboreal species than with terrestrial species after accounting for non-independence of niche model pairs caused by geographic and phylogenetic distances. Our results suggest that occupation of the arboreal microhabitat by salamanders may only be possible in sufficiently warm, low elevation conditions. More broadly, this study indicates that the impact of micro-environmental conditions on temporary microhabitat use, as demonstrated by small-scale ecological studies, may scale up dramatically to shape macroevolutionary patterns.

SUBMITTER: Baken EK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8372966 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Following over 20 years of research on the climatic effects on biodiversity we now have strong evidence that climate change affects phenology, fitness, and distribution ranges of different taxa, including birds. Bird phenology likely responds to changes in local weather. It is also affected by climatic year-to-year variations on larger scales. Although such scale-related effects are common in ecology, most studies analyzing the effects of climate change were accomplished using climatic information on a single spatial scale. In this study, we aimed at determining the scale-dependent sensitivity of breeding phenology and success to climate change in a migratory passerine bird, the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica). For both annual broods, we investigated effects of local weather (local scale) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO, large scale) on the timing of breeding and breeding success. Consistent with previous studies in migratory birds we found that barn swallows in Eastern Germany bred progressively earlier. At the same time, they showed reduced breeding success over time in response to recent climatic changes. Responses to climatic variation were observed on both local and large climatic scales, but they differed with respect to the ecological process considered. Specifically, we found that the timing of breeding was primarily influenced by large-scale NAO variations and to a lesser extent by local weather on the breeding grounds. Conversely, climatic conditions on the local scale affected breeding success, exclusively. The observed decrease in breeding success over years is likely a consequence of scale-related mismatches between climatic conditions during different breeding phases. This provides further evidence that a species' response of earlier breeding may not be enough to cope with climate change. Our results emphasize the importance of considering the response of ecological processes along different climatic scales in order to better understand the complexity of climate change effects on biodiversity.

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Is salamander arboreality limited by broad-scale climatic conditions?

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