Rocks and Vegetation Cover Improve Body Condition of Desert Lizards during Both Summer and Winter

作者：Gavin Stark, Liang Ma, Zhi‐Gao Zeng, Wei‐Guo Du, Ofir Levy · 发表于：Integrative and Comparative Biology · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1093/icb/icac104 · 被引用次数：14 · 研究领域：Amphibian and Reptile Biology、Species Distribution and Climate Change、Animal Behavior and Reproduction

Microhabitats provide ecological and physiological benefits to animals, sheltering them from predation and extreme temperatures and offering an additional supply of water and food. However, most studies have assumed no energetic costs of searching for microhabitats or moving between them, or considered how the availability of microhabitats may affect the energy reserves of animals and how such effects may differ between seasons. To fill these gaps, we studied how the body condition of lizards is affected by microhabitat availability in the extreme environment of the Judean Desert. In particular, we quantified how vegetation and rock cover in the vicinity of these lizards affect their body condition during summer and winter. First, we used aerial imagery to map the vegetation/rock cover at two study sites. Next, we collected 68 adult lizards and examined how their body condition varies across seasons and availability of vegetation and rock cover. In addition, we examined how vegetation and rock cover may differ in their effective distance (i.e., the distance that best explains body condition of lizards). We found that lizards body condition was better if they were collected closer to a higher availability of vegetation or rocks. However, while close proximity (within 10 m) was the best predictor for the positive effect of rocks, a greater distance (up to 90 m) was the best predictor for the effect of the vegetation cover. Moreover, the positive effect of vegetation was 12-fold...