Environmental changes along an altitudinal gradient can facilitate the differentiation of life-history features in ectothermic species, but little attention has been devoted to the reciprocal influence of altitude and alpine slope directionality on life-history variation. According to life-history theory, increased environmental stress causes a change in reproductive allocation from number to quality of offspring, as well as a stronger trade-off between size and number of offspring. To clarify the influence of environmental pressures on the life-history features of the Qinghai toad-headed lizard Phrynocephalus vlangalii along an altitudinal cline, we surveyed late pregnant females from three populations of low (2,600 m), middle (3,400 m) and high (3,600 m) elevations in the Dangjin Mountain of Gansu, China from July to October 2019, and compared their inter-population differences in maternal body size, reproductive characteristics, offspring growth and locomotor performance. Because of lower temperatures, higher humidity, and lower light intensity caused by slope aspect and altitude, the middle-altitude region experienced stronger environmental stress than the high- and low-altitude regions. Our results showed that females were larger at middle- and high-altitude sites and smaller at the low-altitude site, following Bergmann's rule. We also found that females from low-altitude population gave birth earlier than those from the middle and high altitudes. Our results showed a shift in the offspring size-number trade-off of P. vlangalii in response to colder and harsher environments, with lizards from the alpine steppe (i.e., the middle- and high-altitude habitats) producing fewer but larger offspring than those from the warm steppe (i.e., the low-altitude habitat). Low-altitude juveniles grew faster than high-altitude ones, but at the same rates as middle-altitude juveniles. This result demonstrates that the growth of P. vlangalii was associated with temperature and light intensity. Our findings contribute to enhancing our understanding of the altitudinal variation in life-history features of plateau ectotherms and their phenotypic plasticity or local adaptation.

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The Brambling ( Fringilla montifringilla ) (Linnaeus 1758) is a member of the Passeriformes family of birds and primarily feeds on grass seeds and grains. Muscle tissue was collected from birds sampled from Moar Mountain, China, and the complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced. Its mitochondrial genome consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA), 22 tRNA genes, and 1 control region (CR). The genome comprises 30.30% A, 23.32% T, 14.31% G, and 32.07% C bases. Phylogenetically, F. montifringilla is closely related to the Fringilla coelebs , Fringilla teydea teydea and Fringilla polatzeki .