Abstract
Temperature is a major force governing ectotherm life-history. To buffer temperature-driven nutritional imbalances, consumers may engage in selective feeding, thereby altering trait expression and life-history configuration as a consequence of trait-specific energetic and nutritional optima. Yet, the joint effects of temperature and diet on life-history architecture remain poorly understood in vertebrate consumers. We reared Bufo spinosus tadpoles under three temperatures (12 °C, 16 °C, 20 °C) and three diet types (animal-based, plant-based, or choice between both), assessing how selective feeding influences trait performance and life-history plasticity. Increasing temperature altered life-history, accelerated larval development and growth, reducing body mass and condition (SMI), with marginal effects on body length. Dietary effects were trait-specific and temperature-dependent, with the animal diet performing better at 12 °C both in growth rate and body mass but losing this advantage at higher temperatures. Tadpoles offered the choice diet fed selectively, leading to lower assimilation of animal-based at higher temperatures, and generally outperformed tadpoles fed fixed diets. However, selective feeding only partially offset the impacts of higher temperatures. Our results show that increasing temperature canalized life-history trajectories, constraining diet-induced plasticity, and highlight the need to integrate thermal and nutritional drivers in predicting ectotherm responses to climate change.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, through a I.P./MCTES project grant (https://doi.org/10.54499/PTDC/BIA-BMA/1893/2020), Financiamento Plurianual (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/00329/2020; https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00329/2025), a Scientific Employment Stimulus individual contract awarded to BMC (https://doi.org/10.54499/CEECIND/02435/2018/CP1534/CT0007), and a doctoral fellowship awarded to SB (https://doi.org/10.54499/2022.09897.BD). VDC benefited from a scholarship awarded by the National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic. PK gratefully acknowledges research funding from NERC (NE/Y001184/1). We also thank Afonso Barrocal for valuable insights on the data analysis.
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Bento, S., Deeks, E., Martelo, J. et al. Temperature constrains diet-induced plasticity in the life-history of an aquatic vertebrate.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-55894-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-55894-y
Keywords
- Ectotherms
- Functional traits
- Metabolism
- Nutritional quality
- Dietary shifts
- Climate warming
- Temperature-size rule
- Amphibians
Source: Ecology - nature.com
