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Resum
The climatic variability hypothesis predicts the evolution of species with wide
thermal tolerance ranges in environments with variable temperatures, and the
evolution of thermal specialists in thermally stable environments. In caves, the
extent of spatial and temporal thermal variability experienced by taxa
decreases with their degree of specialization to deep subterranean habitats. We
use phylogenetic generalized least squares to model the relationship among
thermal tolerance (upper lethal limits), subterranean specialization (estimated
using ecomorphological traits), and habitat temperature in 16 beetle species of
the tribe Leptodirini (Leiodidae). We found a significant, negative relationship
between thermal tolerance and the degree of subterranean specialization. Conversely,
habitat temperature had only a marginal effect on lethal limits. In
agreement with the climatic variability hypothesis and under a climate change
context, we show that the specialization process to live in deep subterranean
habitats involves a reduction of upper lethal limits, but not an adjustment to
habitat temperature. Thermal variability seems to exert a higher evolutionary
pressure than mean habitat temperature to configure the thermal niche of subterranean
species. Our results provide novel insights on thermal physiology of
species with poor dispersal capabilities and on the evolutionary process of
adaptation to subterranean environments. We further emphasize that the
pathways determining vulnerability of subterranean species to climate change
greatly depend on the degree of specialization to deep subterranean
environments.
Citació
Ecology, vol. 103, issue 4 (Apr. 2022), e3629
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