Animals that face natural and human-mediated landscape disturbance processes can demonstrate different modalities of phenotypic variation to influence local population persistence. Differences in the frequency and pervasiveness of environmental variation can cause an individual’s phenotype to demonstrate either directional plasticity (i.e., environmental matching), canalization, or increased trait variance. Furthermore, how important a trait’s influence is on fitness can further mediate the nature of phenotypic outcomes to environmental variation. We explored the effects of multi-decadal chronosequences of logging and fire-related forest disturbance on morphological variation of the generalist lizard species, the Yellow-bellied water skink ( Eulamprus heatwolei ) in Southern Australia. There was evidence that both logging and fire-related disturbance could influence multiple elements of vegetation structure that would construe a major source of environmental variation for lizards. Nevertheless, neither logging nor fire-related disturbance effects resulted in significant differences in lizard morphological traits. However, there was evidence that years post-fire disturbance was associated with a modest but significant increase in a measure of lizard morphological variance. For the most part, we suggest that lizards exhibit canalization in their morphological responses to disturbance related environmental variation. In forests ecosystems with complex temporal and spatial regimes of environmental variation, canalization of lizard morphology could be expected to ensure phenotypic stability within or across generations to favor geometric, over arithmetic, fitness.

中文翻译：

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蜥蜴形态对伐木和火灾相关森林干扰的减弱表型反应

面临自然和人为介导的景观干扰过程的动物可以表现出不同的表型变异模式，以影响当地种群的持久性。环境变异的频率和普遍性的差异可导致个体的表型表现出定向可塑性（即环境匹配）、渠道化或性状变异增加。此外，性状对适应度的影响有多重要，可以进一步调节表型结果对环境变化的性质。我们探讨了伐木和火灾相关森林干扰的多年代际序列对澳大利亚南部通才蜥蜴物种黄腹水石龙子 (Eulamprus heatwolei) 形态变异的影响。有证据表明，伐木和与火灾相关的干扰都会影响植被结构的多种元素，这些元素将解释蜥蜴环境变化的主要来源。然而，伐木和火灾相关的干扰影响都不会导致蜥蜴形态特征的显着差异。然而，有证据表明，火灾后的几年扰动与蜥蜴形态变异的量度适度但显着增加有关。在大多数情况下，我们认为蜥蜴在其对干扰相关环境变化的形态响应中表现出运河化。在环境变化时空复杂的森林生态系统中，