Patterns and determinants of geographic variation in adult body size and sexual size dimorphism in two widespread lizard species

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A favourable combination of a small effect of phylogeny and a considerable range of environmental conditions makes geographic variation among populations of widespread species a promising model for testing adaptive hypotheses. However, comprehensive range-wide studies of geographic variation in widespread species – even for so fundamentally important trait as body size - are rare. During this project I will document macrogeographic and regional patterns of variation in body size, sexual size dimorphism, and female reproductive output in two widely distributed and broadly sympatric lizard species, Lacerta agilis and Zootoca vivipara. Under careful consideration of potential confounding factors I will investigate relationships of these patterns with the environment (climate), with phylogeny, and among each other. In particular, several predictions of Darwin's fecundity-advantage hypothesis will be tested, and two prominent and currently debated patterns of body size variation, Bergmann’s rule and Rensch’s rule, will be addressed.