Data from: Climate effects on growth, body condition and survival depend on the genetic characteristics of the population

Climatic change is expected to affect individual life-histories and population dynamics, potentially increasing vulnerability to extinction. The importance of genetic diversity has been highlighted for adaptation and population persistence. However, whether responses of life-history traits to a given environmental condition depend on the genetic characteristics of a population remains elusive. Here we tested this hypothesis in the lizard Zootoca vivipara, by simultaneously manipulating habitat humidity, a major climatic predictor of Zootoca's distribution, and adult male colour morph frequency, a trait with genome-wide linkage. Interactive effects of humidity and morph frequency had immediate effects on growth and body condition of juveniles and yearlings, and on adult survival, and delayed effects on offspring size. In yearlings, higher humidity led to larger female body size, and lower humidity led to higher male compared to female survival. In juveniles and yearlings, some treatment effects were compensated over time. The results show that individual responses to environmental conditions depend on the population's colour morph frequency, age class and sex, and that these affect intra- and inter-age class competition. Moreover, humidity affected the competitive environment, rather than imposing trait-based selection on specific colour morphs. This indicates that species' responses to changing environments, e.g. to climate change, are highly complex, and difficult to accurately reconstruct and predict without information on the genetic characteristics and demographic structure of populations.气候变化预计将影响个体生活史与种群动态，进而可能提升种群灭绝风险。遗传多样性对于物种适应环境及维持种群存续的重要性已得到广泛证实。然而，生活史性状对特定环境条件的响应是否依赖于种群的遗传特征，目前仍不明确。本研究以胎生蜥蜴（Zootoca vivipara）为研究对象，通过同时操控栖息地湿度——该物种分布的核心气候预测因子——与成年雄性色型频率（一种具有全基因组连锁关联的性状），对上述假说进行了验证。研究发现，湿度与色型频率的交互作用对幼体和一龄个体的生长、身体状况以及成体存活率具有即时效应，同时对后代体型存在延迟效应。在一龄个体中，更高的湿度会使雌性体型更大，而更低的湿度则会提升雄性相较于雌性的存活率。在幼体和一龄个体中，部分处理效应会随时间推移得到补偿。研究结果表明，个体对环境条件的响应依赖于种群的色型频率、年龄阶层与性别，且这些因素会影响年龄组内与年龄组间的种内竞争。此外，湿度会改变竞争环境，而非对特定色型个体施加基于性状的选择压力。这意味着物种对变化环境（例如气候变化）的响应机制极为复杂，若缺乏种群遗传特征与种群结构的相关信息，将难以准确重建与预测其种群动态。