Behavioral thermoregulation is an efficient mechanism to buffer the physiological effects of climate change. Thermal ecology studies have traditionally tested how thermal constraints shape thermoregulatory behaviors without accounting for the potential major effects of landscape structure and water availability. Thus, we lack a general understanding of the multifactorial determinants of thermoregulatory behaviors in natural populations. In this study, we quantified the relative contribution of elevation, thermal gradient, moisture gradient, and landscape structure in explaining geographic variation in thermoregulation strategies of a terrestrial ectotherm species. We measured field‐active body temperature, thermal preferences, and operative environmental temperatures to calculate thermoregulation indices, including thermal quality of the habitat and thermoregulation efficiency for a very large sample of common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) from 21 populations over 3 yr across the Massif Central mountain range in France. We used an information‐theoretic approach to compare eight a priori thermo‐hydroregulation hypotheses predicting how behavioral thermoregulation should respond to environmental conditions. Environmental characteristics exerted little influence on thermal preference with the exception that females from habitats with permanent access to water had lower thermal preferences. Field body temperatures and accuracy of thermoregulation were best predicted by the interaction between air temperature and a moisture index. In mesic environments, field body temperature and thermoregulation accuracy increased with air temperature, but they decreased in drier habitats. Thermoregulation efficiency (difference between thermoregulation inaccuracy and the thermal quality of the habitat) was maximized in cooler and more humid environments and was mostly influenced by the thermal quality of the habitat. Our study highlights complex patterns of variation in thermoregulation strategies, which are mostly explained by the interaction between temperature and water availability, independent of the elevation gradient or thermal heterogeneity. Although changes in landscape structure were expected to be the main driver of extinction rate of temperate zone ectotherms with ongoing global change, we conclude that changes in water availability coupled with rising temperatures might have a drastic impact on the population dynamics of some ectotherm species.

中文翻译：

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在广泛的蜥蜴中，水热条件的相互作用驱动温度调节的地理变化

行为温度调节是缓冲气候变化的生理影响的有效机制。传统上，热生态学研究测试了热约束如何影响温度调节行为，而没有考虑景观结构和水的潜在主要影响。因此，我们对自然种群中温度调节行为的多因素决定因素缺乏普遍的了解。在这项研究中，我们量化了海拔，温度梯度，湿度梯度和景观结构的相对贡献，以解释陆生等温物种的温度调节策略中的地理变化。我们测量了现场活动的体温，热偏好和操作环境温度，以计算体温调节指数，胎生动物）来自法国Massif Central山脉3年以上的21个人口。我们使用信息理论方法比较了八个先验温度调节假设，这些假设预测行为温度调节应如何响应环境条件。环境特征对热偏好没有什么影响，除了来自永久获得水的栖息地的雌性的热偏好较低。通过气温和湿度指数之间的相互作用，可以最好地预测田间体温和温度调节的准确性。在中性环境中，田间体温和温度调节精度随气温的升高而增加，但在干燥的生境中却降低。在较凉和潮湿的环境中，温度调节效率（温度调节误差与居住环境的热质量之间的差异）最大，并且主要受居住环境的热质量影响。我们的研究强调了温度调节策略变化的复杂模式，这主要是由温度和水的可利用性之间的相互作用所解释的，而与海拔梯度或热非均质性无关。尽管景观结构的变化被认为是全球持续变化导致温带区外吸灭绝率的主要驱动力，但我们得出的结论是，可用水量的变化加上温度的升高可能对某些外吸物种的种群动态产生巨大影响。