Data from: Reciprocally-transplanted lizards along an elevational gradient match light-environment use of local lizards via phenotypic plasticity

1. Thermoregulatory behaviour enables ectotherms to maintain preferred body temperatures across a range of environmental conditions, and it may buffer individuals against the effects of climate warming. In lizards, the mechanism underlying variation in thermoregulatory behaviour has long been assumed to be phenotypic plasticity, and while this assumption has been difficult to test using wild populations in natural habitat, it has critical implications for how variation in thermoregulation is incorporated in models designed to predict outcomes of climate change on ectotherms. 2. We continuously recorded one component of thermoregulatory behaviour, light-environment use, by two wild populations of desert short-horned lizards (Phrynosoma hernandesi) occurring at low (warm) and high (cool) elevations. We then reciprocally transplanted lizards and recorded their light-environment use when exposed to a novel climate at the transplant site. 3. Immediately following the reciprocal transplant to a novel climate, lizards from both populations adjusted their light-environment use and matched the light-environment use exhibited by local lizards at that site. 4. This study provides direct empirical evidence that lizards can immediately adjust light-environment use, one component of thermoregulatory behaviour, via phenotypic plasticity to match local the local environment. Our results provide hope that lizards may have some capacity to buffer against climate change by adjusting their light-environment use to compensate for warmer environmental temperatures.

1. 体温调节行为（thermoregulatory behaviour）可使变温动物（ectotherms）在多样的环境条件下维持其偏好体温，同时能够帮助个体抵御气候变暖带来的负面影响。长期以来，学界默认蜥蜴体温调节行为变异的底层机制为表型可塑性（phenotypic plasticity），尽管这一假设难以通过自然栖息地中的野生种群开展验证，但其对如何将体温调节变异纳入预测变温动物气候变化响应模型的相关研究，具有关键指导意义。
2. 我们对分别栖息于低海拔（温暖）与高海拔（凉爽）区域的两个野生沙漠短角蜥（Phrynosoma hernandesi）种群的体温调节行为组分——光照环境利用（light-environment use）进行了连续记录。随后我们开展了互易移植实验，将蜥蜴转移至异地环境，并记录其在移植地的新型气候条件下的光照环境利用行为。
3. 在完成互易移植至新型气候环境后，两个种群的蜥蜴均立即调整了自身的光照环境利用策略，与移植地本地蜥蜴的光照环境利用模式趋于一致。
4. 本研究为蜥蜴可通过表型可塑性快速调整光照环境利用这一体温调节行为组分，以适配本地环境提供了直接的实证依据。我们的研究结果表明，蜥蜴可通过调整光照环境利用行为来补偿环境温度升高的影响，这意味着它们具备一定的抵御气候变化的缓冲能力，为相关研究带来了积极预期。