Cost and Benefits of Lizard Thermoregulation
1976/09/01 by Raymond B. Huey, Montgomery Slatkin · 1,076 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Biology #Competition (biology) #Ecology #Generalist and specialist species #Habitat #Lizard #Physiological and biochemical adaptations #Squamata #Thermoregulation
paper · doi:10.1086/409470
published in The Quarterly Review of Biology 51(3), 363-384 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 1976/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract
Lizards thermoregulate by behavioral and physiological adjustments. The resultant control over metabolic processes is generally assumed to be beneficial. However, these thermoregulatory adjustments have associated costs which, if extensive, make thermoregulation impractical. We extend this idea into an abstract mathematical, cost-benefit model of thermoregulation in lizards. Investigation of the model leads to a set of predictions which includes: (1) the physiologically optimal temperature is not always the ecologically optimal temperature; (2) thermoregulation is beneficial only when associated costs are low; (3) thermal specialists will normally thermoregulate more carefully than thermal generalists unless costs are high; and (4) lizards will thermoregulate more carefully if productivity of the habitat is increased or if exploitation competition is reduced. Data on lizards, where available, generally agree with these predicitions.
Cited by
- Temperature as an Ecological Resource
- Basking Is Not of Thermoregulatory Significance in the "Basking" Freshwater Turtle Emydura signata
- Thermal ecology of the South American leaf-toed gecko Phyllodactylus gerrhopygus (Wiegmann, 1834) (Gekkota, Phyllodactylidae) in northern Chile
- Balancing energy demands and thermal environments: The influence of ambient temperature on resting metabolic rate and behavioural thermoregulation in Rana temporaria
- Relationship between cognitive and thermoregulatory performance in the common wall lizard
- Weak sex-specific evolution of locomotor activity of Sepsis punctum (Diptera: Sepsidae) thermal experimental evolution lines
- Understanding the temperature response of biological systems: Part I -- Phenomenological descriptions and microscopic models
- Hotter Nights, Hidden Consequences: An Overlooked Dimension of Climate Change
- Colour-driven activity adjustments mediate thermoregulation in sand lizards
- A review of thermoregulation and physiological performance in reptiles: what is the role of phenotypic flexibility?
- Flowers that cool themselves: thermal ecology of summer-blooming thistles in hot Mediterranean environments
- Novel method to investigate thermal exchange rates in small, terrestrial ectotherms: A proof-of-concept on the gecko Tarentola mauritanica
- Ecology and life history of the wide-foraging lizard Kentropyx calcarata (Teiidae) in Amazonian Brazil
- Here comes the sun: Thermoregulatory behavior in ectotherms illuminated by light‐level geolocators
- Precipitation and Temperature‐Dependent Locomotor Performance Drive the Abundance of a Neotropical Lizard
- Rain-harvesting behavior in free-ranging prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis)
- Seasonal variations in spatial ecology, habitat use and habitat selection by San Cristóbal lava lizards Microlophus bivittatus in Galápagos
- Behavioural responses of Australian lizards towards visual cues of feral cats
- Predicting organismal vulnerability to climate warming: roles of behaviour, physiology and adaptation
- Intense nocturnal warming alters growth strategies, colouration and parasite load in a diurnal lizard
- Conservation and Management Strategies Create Opportunities for Integrative Organismal Research
- Thermoregulation enhances survival but not reproduction in a plant‐feeding insect
- Geographic variation in the life history of the sagebrush lizard: the role of thermal constraints on activity
- Growth Plasticity and Thermal Opportunity in Sceloporus Lizards
- Factors driving sexual dimorphism and colour variability in the Achala Copper Lizard (Pristidactylus achalensis), an endemic species to the highland mountains in central Argentina
- An ambusher's arsenal: chemical crypsis in the puff adder (Bitis arietans)
- Delivery of Common Lizards (Zootoca (Lacerta) vivipara) to nests of Eurasian Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) determined by solar height and ambient temperature
- Thermoregulatory behaviour limits local adaptation of thermal niches and confers sensitivity to climate change
- Has contemporary climate change played a role in population declines of the lizard Ctenophorus decresii from semi-arid Australia?
- Thermal ecology of two sympatric saxicolous lizards of the genus Phymaturus from the Payunia region (Argentina)
- Thermal Biology of Nocturnal Ectotherms: Is Sprint Performance of Geckos Maximal at Low Body Temperatures?
- The evolution of nasal turbinates and mammalian endothermy
- Why tropical forest lizards are vulnerable to climate warming. [europepmc]
- Divergence and ontogenetic coupling of larval behaviour and thermal reaction norms in three closely related butterflies. [europepmc]
- Locusts use dynamic thermoregulatory behaviour to optimize nutritional outcomes. [europepmc]
- Temperature, but not available energy, affects the expression of a sexually selected ultraviolet (UV) colour trait in male European green lizards. [europepmc]
- Predicting organismal vulnerability to climate warming: roles of behaviour, physiology and adaptation. [europepmc]
- An ambusher's arsenal: chemical crypsis in the puff adder (Bitis arietans). [europepmc]
- Links between thermoregulation and aging in endotherms and ectotherms. [europepmc]
- Thermal biology of the toad Rhinella schneideri in a seminatural environment in southeastern Brazil. [europepmc]
- Natural selection on thermal preference, critical thermal maxima and locomotor performance. [europepmc]
- Thermal biology of eastern box turtles in a longleaf pine system managed with prescribed fire. [europepmc]
- Physiological evolution during adaptive radiation: A test of the island effect in Anolis lizards. [europepmc]
- Thermal landscape change as a driver of ectotherm responses to plant invasions. [europepmc]
- Dehydration constrains thermoregulation and space use in lizards. [europepmc]
- Mapping physiology: biophysical mechanisms define scales of climate change impacts. [europepmc]
- Environmental temperatures shape thermal physiology as well as diversification and genome-wide substitution rates in lizards. [europepmc]
- When water interacts with temperature: Ecological and evolutionary implications of thermo-hydroregulation in terrestrial ectotherms. [europepmc]
- Cooling requirements fueled the collapse of a desert bird community from climate change. [europepmc]
- Are lizards sensitive to anomalous seasonal temperatures? Long-term thermobiological variability in a subtropical species. [europepmc]
- Heat tolerance and acclimation capacity in subterranean arthropods living under common and stable thermal conditions. [europepmc]
- Behavioral plasticity mitigates the effect of warming on white-tailed deer. [europepmc]
- Running performance with emphasis on low temperatures in a Patagonian lizard, Liolaemus lineomaculatus. [europepmc]
- Life in fluctuating environments. [europepmc]
- Short-term changes in air humidity and water availability weakly constrain thermoregulation in a dry-skinned ectotherm. [europepmc]
- Janzen's Hypothesis Meets the Bogert Effect: Connecting Climate Variation, Thermoregulatory Behavior, and Rates of Physiological Evolution. [europepmc]
- Climate warming drives a temperate-zone lizard to its upper thermal limits, restricting activity, and increasing energetic costs. [europepmc]
Related