Microhabitat humidity rather than food availability drives thermo-hydroregulation responses to drought in a terrestrial lizard

The content of this archive includes raw data and metadata for the paper "Microhabitat humidity rather than food availability drives thermo-hydroregulation responses to drought in a terrestrial lizard" by Bodineau et al. In this experimental study, we investigated how microclimate conditions and food availability influence thermo-hydroregulation strategies and body condition of lizards (Zootoca vivipara) during a simulated drought. We found that water restriction and food deprivation caused physiological alterations such as muscle catabolism and mobilization of caudal energy reserves. Lizards developed behavioural strategy to counteract water and food deprivation like decreased thermoregulation effort, higher shelter use and increased eye closure behaviours. Hydric quality of the shelter rather than food availability was the main modulator of trade-offs between thermoregulatory and hydroregulatory activities and an important buffer against the deleterious effects of water restriction. These original findings challenge the assumptions of mechanistic models of ectotherms, which are currently calibrated on the thermal biology of ectotherms. They demonstrate the urgent need to take into account the dual effect of warming and drought events, behavioural interactions between thermoregulation and hydroregulation and the buffering role of microclimatic conditions.本档案包含Bodineau等人发表的论文《微生境湿度而非食物可获得性驱动陆生蜥蜴对干旱的热-水调节响应》的原始数据与元数据。本实验研究探究了模拟干旱环境下，微气候条件与食物可获得性如何影响胎生蜥蜴（Zootoca vivipara）的热-水调节策略与身体状态。研究发现，水分限制与食物剥夺会引发肌肉分解代谢、尾部能量储备动员等生理变化。蜥蜴演化出应对水分与食物匮乏的行为策略，例如降低体温调节投入、增加隐蔽场所使用频次以及提高闭眼行为频率。隐蔽场所的水分条件而非食物可获得性，是调节体温调节与水调节活动间权衡关系的核心调控因子，同时也是抵御水分限制带来的有害影响的重要缓冲机制。这些原创性发现对当前基于变温动物热生物学特征校准的变温动物机制模型的假设提出了挑战。本研究表明，亟需纳入气候变暖与干旱事件的双重影响、体温调节与水调节间的行为交互作用，以及微气候条件的缓冲作用。