Climatic conditions and prevalence of melanistic snakes—contrasting effects of warm springs and mild winters

Bury, Stanisław; Kolanek, Aleksandra; Chylarecki, Przemysław; Najbar, Bartłomiej; Kurek, Katarzyna; Mazgajski, Tomasz D.

doi:10.1007/s00484-022-02279-1

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…The adaptive role of melanisms in reptiles, and in particular in snakes, has been highly debated. While some studies have highlighted physiological advantages correlated with melanism (Luiselli, 1993;Bittner et al, 2002;Clusella-Trullas et al, 2007a;Tanaka, 2009;Moreno Azócar et al, 2020;Hantak et al, 2022), others failed to find any related evidence of selection (San-Jose et al, 2008;Matthews et al, 2016;Bury et al, 2020Bury et al, , 2022Fănaru et al, 2022). Within European vipers, the benefits associated with a melanistic pigmentation appear to be context-dependent with a high variability in terms of observed advantages across populations (Madsen and Stille, 1988;Luiselli, 1992;Monney et al, 1995Monney et al, , 1996Strugariu and Zamfirescu, 2011;Broennimann et al, 2014;Lucchini et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The tale of the black viper: distribution and bioclimatic niche modelling of melanistic Vipera aspis in Italy

Di Nicola,

Faraone,

Pozzi

et al. 2024

Acta Herpetol.

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For decades, the evolutionary role of melanism in reptiles has been highly debated. According to the thermal melanism hypothesis, melanistic phenotypes should provide thermal advantages, thus positively impacting various biological aspects of these individuals. Nevertheless, these benefits seem to be countered by environmental constraints and predatory pressure. Here, we mapped for the first time the distribution of the melanistic phenotypes in the highly polymorphic asp viper (Vipera aspis). We focused our research effort on the Italian peninsula, where this species reaches its highest level of taxonomic diversity with three currently described subspecies. Furthermore, we investigated via bioclimatic niche modelling, the influence of a wide array of bioclimatic variables on the distribution of melanism in Italian asp vipers. In general, our results seem to support the implications of the thermal melanism hypothesis, highlighting the central influence of mean annual temperature and elevation on the geographic distribution of melanistic V. aspis. At the finest scale, our analyses have highlighted a distinction in bioclimatic niches among the three assessed subspecies. However, further fine-scale investigations are needed in order to exclude the potential influence of latitude and elevation on the observed the intersubspecific bioclimatic niche segregation pattern.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The tale of the black viper: distribution and bioclimatic niche modelling of melanistic Vipera aspis in Italy

Di Nicola,

Faraone,

Pozzi

et al. 2024

Acta Herpetol.

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“…However, these roles are not complementary. Dark pigmentation offers superior protection from harmful solar radiation and facilitates thermoregulation via heliothermal conversion [ 3 , 7 ] but increases individual detectability by avian predators [ 8 ]. Consistently, melanic individuals can heat up more quickly than their lighter counterparts but are also exposed to higher predation rates [ 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental colour pattern variation in Mediterranean Podarcis

Escoriza

2024

BMC Ecol Evo

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Background Lizards of the genus Podarcis are widespread in the Mediterranean region, including islands and island archipelagos. These small-bodied lizards have a predominantly protective green-brown colouration. However, some populations display unusual patterns, in which the colouration is predominantly blue or uniformly black. This study explores the factors that influence this chromatic variation, whether environmental (climate and island conditions) or evolutionary (phylogenetic trait conservatism). The colouration of 1400 individuals (27 species) was analysed in the CIELAB colour space. Results Pagel’s λ indicated that colouration is weakly conserved within phylogenetic lineages. Although the island surface plays a key role in the chromatic variability of these lacertids, geographic isolation and climate hold less influence. The colouration of some small island populations tends to be uniform and dark, possibly due to intense intraspecific competition and lower predatory pressure. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of island populations in understanding the processes that favour the emergence of extreme phenotypes in small ectothermic vertebrates.

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“…1). Due to climate change, the average global temperatures have already risen by 1.1 °C between the years 1850 and 2020 (IPCC, 2023) and it has been suggested that melanism trends in snakes can change depending on climatic conditions (Bury et al, 2022). The climate projections to 2050 for our study area, made by the DRIAS platform (https://www.drias-climat.fr/decouverte), include three scenarios (RCP2.6/ RCP4.5/ RCP8.5) which all predict a greater rise in temperatures, with an increase of 1.56 °C (RCP 2.6), 1.82 °C (RCP 4.5) and a potentially extreme rise of up to 2.14 °C (RCP 8.5).…”

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confidence: 99%

Will climate change affect the proportion of melanistic northern vipers Vipera berus in a western European population with an exceptionally high rate of melanism?

DESO

2024

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Climatic conditions and prevalence of melanistic snakes—contrasting effects of warm springs and mild winters

Cited by 4 publications

References 66 publications

The tale of the black viper: distribution and bioclimatic niche modelling of melanistic Vipera aspis in Italy

The tale of the black viper: distribution and bioclimatic niche modelling of melanistic Vipera aspis in Italy

Environmental colour pattern variation in Mediterranean Podarcis

Will climate change affect the proportion of melanistic northern vipers Vipera berus in a western European population with an exceptionally high rate of melanism?

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