Behavioural and physiological ecology of reptiles

生理学对生态学的大多数方面都有普遍的影响。最近，有人争辩说，新陈代谢速率与温度和体型的相关性可以解释从两极到赤道生物多样性增加的纬度梯度。还有人提出，代谢率对温度和体型的依赖控制着从个体到生物圈的各级组织的生态过程。虽然这一新的生态学新陈代谢理论引起了很大争议，但很明显，包括代谢率在内的生理过程是与温度有关的。绝大多数动物都是体温过高的动物，与吸热动物不同，它们缓冲无处不在的体温对其所有发育、生理和行为过程的影响的能力有限。因此，由于爬行动物是体温超常的动物，它们体温的变化最终会对健康产生重大影响，但这种影响仍然只有部分了解。体温过高或过低时，体温过高或过低都会降低体温，因此体温过高或过低会降低体温。爬行动物主要通过行为和小气候的选择来调节体温。因此，体温调节与栖息地选择和行为密切相关。因为体温调节通过生理过程的温度依赖性影响适应性，我们可以在爬行动物的行为体温调节、生理和适应性之间建立关系。我的长期研究目标是破译行为和表型如何受到生理制约的影响，从而影响整个有机体的表现，从而影响与健康相关的生活史特征。我使用一种功能进化的方法，我的大部分工作将受控的实验室实验与现场观察结合在一起。

Physiology has pervasive effects on most facets of ecology. Recently, it has been argued that the temperature and body size dependence of metabolic rate could explain the latitudinal gradient of increasing biodiversity from the poles to the equator. It was also proposes that the temperature and body size dependence of metabolic rate controls ecological processes at all levels of organization from individuals to the biosphere. While this new metabolic theory of ecology has stirred much controversy, it is clear that physiological processes, including metabolic rate, are temperature dependent. The vast majority of animals are ectotherms and, unlike endotherms, have limited capacity for buffering the ubiquitous effects of body temperature on all of their developmental, physiological, and behavioural processes. Thus, since reptiles are ectotherms, variation in their body temperature ultimately has a significant impact on fitness, but this impact remains only partially understood. Ectotherms use behavioural thermoregulation to avoid reduced capacities associated with excessively high or low body temperatures. Reptiles regulate body temperature mainly through behaviour and choice of microclimate. Thus, thermoregulation is tightly linked to habitat selection and to behaviour. Because thermoregulation affects fitness through the temperature dependence of physiological processes, we can establish relationships between behavioural thermoregulation, physiology, and fitness in reptiles. My long-term research objective is to decipher how behaviour and phenotype, modulated by physiological constraints, affect whole-organism performance and, thus, fitness-related life-history traits. I use a functional evolutionary approach and most of my work integrates controlled laboratory experiments with field observations.