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Predator presence and recent climatic warming raise body temperatures of island lizards
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  • Felix Landry Yuan,
  • Shun Ito,
  • Toby Pak Nok Tsang,
  • Takeo Kuriyama,
  • Kaede Yamazaki,
  • Timothy Bonebrake,
  • Masami Hasegawa
Felix Landry Yuan
University of Hong Kong

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Shun Ito
Tohoku Gakuin University
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Toby Pak Nok Tsang
The University of Hong Kong
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Takeo Kuriyama
University of Hyogo
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Kaede Yamazaki
Toho University - Narashino Campus
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Timothy Bonebrake
The University of Hong Kong
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Masami Hasegawa
Toho University
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Abstract

In ectothermic predator-prey relationships, the capacity for prey to successfully evade predation will depend upon physiological and behavioural responses that relate to both players’ thermal biology. On the Izu Islands of Japan, we investigated how a prey lizard species has responded physiologically and thermally to the presence of a snake predator over evolutionary time in addition to recent climatic warming. Foraging lizard body temperatures have increased by 1.0°C from 1981 to 2019 while lizard body temperatures were 3.4°C warmer on islands where the snake predator is present relative to snake-free islands. We also found that warmer prey body temperatures result in faster running speeds of the prey at temperatures suboptimal for the snake predator. The results show that lizard body temperatures have increased with warming but not to the same extent as that exerted by predation pressure. However, further warming could irrevocably alter this and other ectothermic predator-prey relationships.
25 Sep 2020Submitted to Ecology Letters
25 Sep 2020Submission Checks Completed
25 Sep 2020Assigned to Editor
28 Sep 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
23 Oct 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Oct 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
01 Dec 20201st Revision Received
01 Dec 2020Submission Checks Completed
01 Dec 2020Assigned to Editor
04 Dec 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
08 Dec 2020Editorial Decision: Accept