LONDON: Climate change undoubtedly affects all organisms but researchers have found that reptiles are particularly vulnerable as their body temperature is directly affected by temperature in the environment.
In a study published in the journal PLOS Biology, researchers examined what would happen to a populations of common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) should the climate warm by 2 degrees Celsius, the predicted world temperature by the end of the century. According to the results of their research, Elvire Bestion and colleagues were able to show that many of the common lizard populations will disappear quickly if warmer temperatures persist.
To study the lizards, the researchers used a Metatron, a system of semi-natural enclosures that allowed for temperature manipulation, creating two distinct climates: one simulating present conditions and the other warmer by 2 degrees Celsius. There were 18 common lizard populations utilized in the study, each one placed in either a “present” or “warmed” enclosure for more than two years. The populations were then surveyed for another year, allowing the researchers to observe how warmer climates had an impact on the lizards in terms of demographic parameters like survival, reproduction and growth rate.
