Context In montane systems, closely related species tend to segregate spatially along elevational gradients. The role of biotic interactions, relative to species physiological requirements, in maintaining these distribution patterns is an important question in spatial ecology. Theory suggests that the role of interspecific competition can be significant in the maintenance of elevation replacement distributions. Despite this, there has been limited work investigating factors beyond thermophysiology in determining ranges in temperate montane species. Objectives and methods We investigated agonistic (i.e. aggressive) behaviour in response to a simulated intruder (conspecific versus heterospecific 3D printed models) in two sister species of temperate montane lizard, Liopholis guthega and L. montana , from south-eastern Australia. The two species have similar thermal tolerances at an area of distributional overlap between 1600 and 1700 m above sea level, above which L. montana is replaced by the high elevation specialist L. guthega . Results We found that response to intruder stimuli differed between the two species, with the high elevation L. guthega actively biting both conspecific and heterospecific models, whereas the lower elevation L. montana , never attacked either model type. Our findings provide evidence of asymmetric agonistic response in the two montane reptile species. Conclusions These findings have important implications for understanding how biological interactions and behaviour, in addition to thermo-physiological data, might mediate landscape scale distribution patterns both now and as environments change in the future. More broadly, our results are not consistent with the widespread idea that low elevation species will inevitably ‘push’ higher elevation species out, as global warming erodes species’ thermal envelopes.

中文翻译：

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表现出海拔置换的两种山地蜥蜴的激动行为不对称

背景 在山地系统中，密切相关的物种倾向于沿着海拔梯度在空间上分离。相对于物种生理需求，生物相互作用在维持这些分布模式方面的作用是空间生态学中的一个重要问题。理论表明，种间竞争在维持海拔替代分布方面可能具有重要作用。尽管如此，在确定温带山地物种的范围方面，研究热生理学以外的因素的工作仍然有限。目标和方法 我们研究了澳大利亚东南部温带山地蜥蜴 Liopholis Guthega 和 L. montana 的两个姐妹物种对模拟入侵者（同种与异种 3D 打印模型）的反应的激动（即攻击性）行为。这两个物种在海拔 1600 到 1700 m 之间的分布重叠区域具有相似的热耐受性，高于此区域的 L. montana 被高海拔专家 L.guthega 取代。结果我们发现这两种物种对入侵者刺激的反应不同，高海拔的古斯加积极咬同种和异种模型，而低海拔的蒙大拿从未攻击任何一种模型类型。我们的发现提供了两种山地爬行动物物种不对称激动反应的证据。结论 这些发现对于理解除了热生理数据之外的生物相互作用和行为如何调节现在和未来环境变化时的景观尺度分布模式具有重要意义。更广泛地，