Climate Change: How Is It Contributing to the Decreasing Population of Lizards?

In a recently published paper, a research team described their 10-year study of lizards that live in a mountainous portion of France and what they discovered when measuring telomere length.

Specifically, as specified in a Phys.org report, the international research team has discovered that some lizards that live in growingly warm environments have shorter telomeres, resulting in shorter lifespans.

Essentially, telomeres are DNA strands loathed on the ends of chromosomes, serving as a sort of cap that helps shield the DNA inside.

Previous studies have shown that telomere length can be used as a gauge of overall health and aging status. As an individual gets older, his telomeres degrade, playing a role in the aging process and sudden death.

A Decline in Lizard Population

Shortening telomeres in a person or group of people can suggest a human or animal is experiencing health issues and could therefore have a shorter lifespan.

In this new research published in the National Academy of Sciences, the study authors spent 10 years of common lizards or viviparous in parts of the Massif Central mountains located in France. They gauged telomere length in random lizards regardless of age.

As part of their research, the authors discovered that population levels for all the groups they examined were declining, and the warmer the temperature became, the larger the drop.

The group that lived in the portion of the mountains that had warmed the majority, vanished altogether. Suspecting the population decreases were linked to the rise in temperatures, the study investigators compared the condition of the telomeres between lizard groups.

Shorter, Degraded Telomeres

As a result of the comparison, those that lived in places that had warmed the majority had shorter and degraded telomeres.

They discovered too, that indication of lizards passing on telomere traits to their young, lizards was then born with shorter telomeres and therefore had shorter lifespans.

Because of that, a lot of these lizards died before they grew old enough to reproduce, further decreasing the size of the population.

The study investigators concluded that climate change is causing the lizards to age prematurely and they are, therefore, at risk of extinction.

The team suggested too, that testing telomere length and condition in other species in other areas could serve as a means for examining their survivability as the planet warms.

Effect of Climate Change on Lizards

This is not the first time the effect of climate change on lizards has been reported. In 2016, an NPR report specified that lizards were expected to be "hard-hit by climate change," and according to research, it might be even worse for some of the creatures than scientists thought.

The same report said lizards and other reptiles are sensitive to global warming as they regulate their body temperature using the environment, floundering in the sun, and cooking off under the shade. It has been forecasted that roughly 20 percent of lizard species will undergo extinction by the year 2080.

Such a prediction was based on certain assumptions about how easy it is for the tiny animals to find shade, according to biologist Michael Sears, from Clemson University.

Related information about Lizards affected by climate change is shown on FunctionalEcology's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Lizards in Science Times