The plastic capability of species to cope with the new conditions created by climate change is poorly understood. This is particularly relevant for organisms restricted to high elevations because they are adapted to cold temperatures and low oxygen availability. Therefore, evaluating trait plasticity of mountain specialists is fundamental to understand their vulnerability to environmental change. We transplanted mountain lizards, Iberolacerta cyreni, 800 m downhill to evaluate the plastic response in body condition, thermoregulation traits, haemoglobin level, and haemoparasite load. Initial measurements of body mass, total haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]), hematic parasite intensities, dorsal luminance, and thermoregulatory behaviour were resampled after two and four weeks of acclimation. We also tested whether an anti-parasitic drug reduced haemoparasite intensity. After only two weeks of acclimation to a lower elevation, lizards decreased 42% in [Hb], had 17% less parasite intensities, increased body condition by 25%, and raised by ~3% their mean preferred temperatures and their voluntary thermal maximum. The anti-parasitic treatment had no significant effect on the intensity of hematic parasites, but our results suggest that negative effects of haemoparasites on [Hb] are relaxed at lower elevation. The rapid plastic changes observed in thermal preferences, body condition, [Hb], and parasite intensity of I. cyreni demonstrate a potential plastic response of a mountain specialist. This may be adaptive under the climatic extremes typical of mountain habitats. However, there is uncertainty in whether the observed plasticity can also help overcome long term environmental changes.

中文翻译：

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山蜥蜴血红蛋白浓度和体温调节的可塑性

物种应对气候变化造成的新条件的可塑性能力知之甚少。这对于限制在高海拔地区的生物尤其相关，因为它们适应寒冷的温度和低的氧气供应。因此，评估山区专家的特征可塑性是了解他们对环境变化的脆弱性的基础。我们将山蜥蜴 Iberolacerta cyreni 移植到下坡 800 m 以评估身体状况的塑性反应、体温调节特性、血红蛋白水平和血寄生虫负荷。在适应两周和四个星期后，对体重、总血红蛋白浓度 ([Hb])、血液寄生虫强度、背部亮度和体温调节行为的初始测量重新取样。我们还测试了抗寄生虫药是否会降低血液寄生虫强度。在适应较低海拔仅两周后，蜥蜴的 [Hb] 降低了 42%，寄生虫强度降低了 17%，身体状况增加了 25%，并将它们的平均首选温度和自愿热最大值提高了约 3%。抗寄生虫治疗对血液寄生虫的强度没有显着影响，但我们的结果表明，血液寄生虫对 [Hb] 的负面影响在低海拔地区有所缓解。在 I. cyreni 的热偏好、身体状况、[Hb] 和寄生虫强度中观察到的快速塑性变化证明了山区专家的潜在塑性反应。这在山区栖息地典型的极端气候下可能是适应性的。然而，