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Spatial differentiation of background matching strategies along a Late Pleistocene range expansion route

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Abstract

Late Pleistocene climate changes have deeply impacted the range dynamics of temperate species. While the genetic legacy of these dynamics has been widely investigated, little is known about their phenotypic consequences. Anti-predatory strategies offer intriguing opportunities to study phenotypic evolution in response to dispersal dynamics since the ability to avoid predation can be pivotal for populations colonising new environments. Here we investigated the spatial differentiation of background colour matching strategies along a Late Pleistocene range expansion route of a temperate species, the Tyrrhenian tree frog Hyla sarda. Using common-garden experiments, we tested whether individuals from the source area (Sardinia) and individuals from the newly founded area (Corsica) differ in two components of the camouflage strategy: colour change abilities and background choice behaviour. We found a remarkable spatial structure in both colour change abilities and background choice behaviour, across the expansion range. Tree frogs from the source area displayed higher colour change abilities and a more pronounced preference for a greener background, with respect to tree frogs from the newly colonised area. Our results support the intriguing hypothesis that Late Pleistocene biogeographic history might be an overlooked major player in shaping current spatial patterns of phenotypic traits variation across animal populations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Alessandro Carlini, Giacomo Grignani, Lorenzo Latini, Armando Macali, for assistance with sampling and the experimental procedures. This work was supported by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PRIN project 2017KLZ3MA).

Funding

This study was funded by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PRIN project 2017KLZ3MA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento Di Scienze Ecologiche E Biologiche, Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Largo dell’Università, 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    Giada Spadavecchia, Andrea Chiocchio, David Costantini, Anita Liparoto, Roberta Bisconti & Daniele Canestrelli

  2. Unité Physiologie Moléculaire Et Adaptation, CNRS, UMR 7221, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 7 Rue Cuvier, 75005, Paris, France

    David Costantini

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  1. Giada Spadavecchia
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  2. Andrea Chiocchio
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Contributions

D.Can. conceived the study. GS, AL, RB collected the data. GS, AC, D.Can., D.Cos. and RB, performed formal analysis and interpreted the results. GS wrote the original draft of the manuscript, with contributes from AC, RB and D.Can. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andrea Chiocchio.

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Sampling procedures were performed under the approval of the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research ‘ISPRA’ (protocol # 5944), Ministry of Environment ‘MATTM’ (protocol #8275), Regione Sardegna (#12144) and Corsica (#2A20180206002 and #2B20180206001). Permission to temporarily house amphibians was granted by Local Health and Veterinary Centre, with license code 050VT427. All handling procedures outlined in the present study were approved by the Ethical Committee of the University of Tuscia for the use of live animals (D.R. n. 677/16 and D.R.644/17). All animals were released in the original sampling locations at the end of the experimentation.

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Spadavecchia, G., Chiocchio, A., Costantini, D. et al. Spatial differentiation of background matching strategies along a Late Pleistocene range expansion route. Evol Ecol 37, 291–303 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-022-10216-2

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