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    Bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) with reduced scalation lose water faster but do not have substantially different thermal preferences.

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    Name:
    JEBEWLThermalManuscriptV3.docx
    Size:
    77.12Mb
    Format:
    Microsoft Word 2007
    Description:
    Main article prior to publication
    DownloadPDF Variant
    Author
    Sakich, Nicholas B
    Tattersall, Glenn J
    Keyword
    Lepidosauria
    Reptile
    Scale
    Squamata
    Temperature
    Water
    Journal title
    The Journal of experimental biology
    Publication Volume
    224
    Publication Issue
    12
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10464/17145
    Abstract
    Whether scales reduce cutaneous evaporative water loss in lepidosaur reptiles (Superorder Lepidosauria) such as lizards and snakes has been a contentious issue for nearly half a century. Furthermore, while many studies have looked at whether dehydration affects thermal preference in lepidosaurs, far fewer have examined whether normally hydrated lepidosaurs can assess their instantaneous rate of evaporative water loss and adjust their thermal preference to compensate in an adaptive manner. We tested both of these hypotheses using three captive-bred phenotypes of bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) sourced from the pet trade: ‘Wild Types’ with normal scalation, ‘Leatherbacks’ exhibiting scales of reduced prominence, and scaleless bearded dragons referred to as ‘Silkbacks’. Silkbacks on average lost water evaporatively at about twice the rate that Wild Types did. Leatherbacks on average were closer in their rates of evaporative water loss to Silkbacks than they were to Wild Types. Additionally, very small (at most ~1°C) differences in thermal preference existed between the three phenotypes that were not statistically significant. This suggests a lack of plasticity in thermal preference in response to an increase in rate of evaporative water loss, and may be reflective of a thermal ‘strategy’ as employed by thermoregulating bearded dragons that prioritises immediate thermal benefits over the threat of future dehydration. The results of this study bolster an often-discounted hypothesis regarding the present adaptive function of scales and have implications for the applied fields of animal welfare and conservation.
    ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
    10.1242/jeb.234427
    Scopus Count
    Collections
    Biological Sciences

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