Animals function best within a limited range of body. Temperatures that varies from one species to the next outside of that optimal range animals will begin to struggle and eventually temperatures either too hot or too cold can be lethal so okay. National force is a really really beautiful area. You're walking around a longleaf pine site you know you might come across a pygmy rattlesnake. You're in a scrub site you'll likely see the scrub jay which is also a protected species. Yeah it's a pretty area my research advisor. Lance McBrayer has always worked with scopus would I in ocala. There aren't many people that actually study. I'm Scott burswood. I only one or two labs in the southeast sceloporus would I is endemic to a relatively small region of Central Florida with the largest remaining populations occurring in Ocala National Forest and so the lizard is currently listed on the iucn red list as being a threatened species too so its populations are definitely dwindling the Florida scrub lizard has very specific habitat requirements preferring shaded yet open sand substrates mixed with litter and scattered vegetation the floor described lizard is found in two different habitat types. I'm longleaf pine and San fine scrub the longleaf. Pine habitats are dominated by longleaf pine trees and the understory is made up of turkey. Oaks as well as wiregrass the scrub habitats look very different they have small open sand patches. The tallest tree is going to be the sand pine tree and as far as the the understory goes you have a lot of oak species that are there as well as Palmetto shrubs historically the scrub lizard has needed sites. That were you know. Burned every eight to ten years to maintain these small open patches and the longleaf sites in Ocala are for the most part maintained pretty well the scrub sites they've you know replaced that historic fire rotation with clear cutting but that causes the open patches to be much more overgrown so less less suitable for the lizards so on all the lizards are a lot more abundant in the longleaf sites.

Then they're going to be in the scrub habitats using models that were designed to mimic the biophysical properties of a small lizard. Lauren found that the local environment of the lizards was hotter in the scrub habitat than in the longleaf habitat. That's going to affect the lizard's thermoregulatory behavior because they have preferred ranges of temperatures. So they'll have you know greater greater success carrying out fitness enhancing activities such as you know foraging acquiring mates avoiding predation. Lauren wondered that this matter to the lizards but to answer that question she first had to catch some nine times out of ten. You hear them move as you're approaching them so they're gonna see you before before you see them and once. I see a lizard. I have a new sing poll that we make usually just with an old fishing pole and we rigged up a slip knot on the end of it. So essentially you want to put the noose around the lizard's neck and just pull back. Lauren brought her prizes back to Georgia Southern to see if differences in the thermal environments of the two habitats influence scrub lizard behavior and physiology for example to estimate the ability of lizards to tolerate thermal extremes. She measured the highest and lowest temperatures at which a lizard was able to right itself when flipped onto its back. I found that long leaf. Pine populations could withstand slightly colder temperatures than the sand pine scrub populations and similarly the sand pine scrub populations were able to withstand significantly warmer temperatures than longleaf pine lizards so the thermal tolerance ranges in the sand pine scrub populations have shifted upwards to match the environmental temperatures that they're experiencing to see how temperature affected the sprint speed of lizards from the two habitats. Lauren chase them down a race track at five ecologically relevant temperatures. I found that same time scrub populations had a higher thermal Optima meaning that lizards from San pan scrub habitats ran their fastest speed at relatively warmer temperatures compared to the longleaf pine populations so Florida scrub lizards have adapted to the hotter temperatures of the scrub pine environment but there is surely a limit to their adaptive capabilities even a wonder 2 degree temperature increase in the ophtho available.

Operative temperature is going to have you know large impact on the amount of time that those lizards have to carry out really really important tasks although it may seem counterintuitive burning may be essential to help Florida scrub lizards deal with the heat so in longleaf pine forests that are managed with prescribed burns the management is preserving these the vertical perches that are on trees so lizards can utilize trees as perches when ground temperatures become unfavorably hot conversely in the sand pine scrub habitats those sites are logged their clear-cut. So all of the vertical perches you know are remove so they're restricted to terrestrial perches which get a lot warmer with global temperatures expected to rise somewhere between 3 and 12 degrees over the next century. It's not clear whether these lizards will be able to keep up so. I found that these lizards are able to adapt to the thermal to their respective thermal environments so they're optimizing their physiological performance based on the temperatures that they're experiencing in their respective habitats since tropical and subtropical lizards are thought to be especially vulnerable to the effects of anthropogenic climate change. This makes a thing cool. There might be you know. New Hope because the Florida scrub lizard you know has been able to to adapt to to its respective thermal environment. But we don't really know the adaptive capabilities of these lizards. So you know more more research definitely needs to be done bye.