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Mismatch Between Ectotherm Thermal Preferenda and Optima for Swimming: A Test of the Evolutionary Pace Hypothesis

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Abstract

A continuing issue in evolutionary thermal biology is the mismatch between preferred body temperatures (T pref) and optimal temperatures (T opt) for whole-animal performance. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, I examined the hypothesis that a difference in the rates at which T pref and T opt evolve causes the mismatch in a lineage of European newts. In a laboratory thermal gradient, newts maintained body temperatures that were on average 8 °C below T opt for maximum swimming velocity. The lower boundary of the T pref range evolved faster than the mean T pref, the upper boundary of the T pref range, and T opt. The strong evolutionary co-variation between mean T pref and its boundaries prevented the shift of mean T pref away from T opt. This suggests that the variation in evolutionary rates has a limited potential to modify the disparity between thermal optima and preferenda.

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Acknowledgments

I thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments on the previous versions of this manuscript, R. Van Damme for a detailed presubmission review, and D. Adams for help with his R script. This study was funded by a grant from the Czech Science Foundation (P506/10/2170) and institutional support (RVO: 68081766).

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The author declares that he has no conflicts of interest.

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The author declares that this paper complies with the current laws of the Czech Republic.

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  1. Institute of Vertebrate Biology AS CR, Květná 8, 60365, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lumír Gvoždík

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Gvoždík, L. Mismatch Between Ectotherm Thermal Preferenda and Optima for Swimming: A Test of the Evolutionary Pace Hypothesis. Evol Biol 42, 137–145 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-015-9305-z

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