Data for: Thermal specialization limits evolutionary responses to climate warming in lizards

Understanding how ectothermic animals perform under climate warming is key
to predicting biodiversity responses to global change. We compiled
empirical sprint speed data for 85 lizard species and fitted thermal
performance curves (TPCs) using a mechanistic model capturing enzymatic
and protein stability constraints. From fitted TPCs, we derived
physiological traits related to the shape of the TPCs and tested whether
body size, thermal environment, and phylogeny predict performance. Species
adapted to warmer habitats exhibited higher optimum temperatures and
maximal performance values, supporting the hotter-is-better hypothesis.
But warm-adapted specialists had a narrower thermal breadth and a steeper
performance decrease under the highest thermal challenges than
cold-adapted species. These results suggest an evolutionary trade-off
between specialists and generalists, shaped by the evolutionary history.
Our findings exhibit how evolutionary processes can tune performance to
present climates but may limit adaptive potential to future warming.