Hindered and constrained: limited potential for thermal adaptation in post-metamorphic and adult Rana temporaria along elevational gradients

Adaptation to warming climates could counteract the effects of global warming. Thus, understanding how species cope with contrasting climates may inform us about their potential for thermal adaptation and which processes may hamper that ability (e.g. evolutionary trade-offs, phenology, or behavioural thermoregulation). In addition to temperature, time constraints may also exert important selective pressures. Here we compare the thermal sensitivity of locomotion of metamorphic and adult European common frogs (Rana temporaria) originating from populations along an elevational gradient. We employed the template mode of variation (TMV) analysis to decompose the thermal sensitivity of locomotion and explore the existence of trade-offs (‘hotter is better’ and ‘specialist-generalist’) and the degree of local adaptation. To that end, we studied the relationship between TMV parameters and local environmental conditions. Further, we compared preferred temperatures to assess whether behavioral the...