Climate Change Possibly Linked To Lower Intelligence in Lizards
We already know that global climate change is causing profound impacts on our natural world, but we still don't fully understand the extent of the damage or how to reverse it. New studies are consistently releasing more evidence that the world is at risk, and may be heading towards a complete environmental collapse, unless we are able to take immediate action. Most interestingly (and most worryingly), this climate shift is presenting consequences to animal physiology and psychology, something that wasn't really anticipated by most biologists. Temperature dependent animals are showing dramatic shifts in their gender densities. Animal behaviors are changing as they adapt to a warming world. The increasing climate has even had a serious impact on the health of microbes living in the guts of animals. Increasingly concerning, a new study based in the United Kingdom has revealed some startling data: global climate change may have a negative effect on the intelligence of some species.
Bearded dragons are incredibly popular in the pet trade. They are hardy, social animals that are fairly easy to keep and are one of the more "friendly" reptiles out there. They are often popular in a variety of studies for these reasons, and their relatively easy husbandry and incubation makes them a desirable lab animal.
Researchers with the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom incubated two clutches of bearded dragons eggs in an effort to determine whether or not the temperature of their incubation had any effect on their intelligence. One clutch comprised of six eggs was incubated 30 ± 3°C and designated the "hot group", while the "cold group" was a clutch of seven eggs incubated at 27 ± 3°C. Once the lizards hatched, they were housed in similar enclosures heated to 29°C, and all put on the same feeding regimen. At the time of testing, all the dragons were considered to be sexually mature, and their rearing was pretty much the same across the board, except for their temperatures of incubation.
The dragons watched a video of an unfamiliar female bearded dragon opening a sliding door to obtain her food. Following the video, each lizard was put in a similar enclosure with a sliding door, and given 5 minutes to open the door and obtain the food as in the video. Over ten trials, the lizards that had been incubated at the cooler temperatures opened the door far faster than those incubated at higher temperatures.
"Environmental change is one of the key issues affecting habitats worldwide, creating challenges for animals living there. One of the first responses an animal can make to a changing environment is changing its behaviour. Cognitive abilities are likely to be critical to how they adapt because they influence how an animal perceives, stores and uses information from the surrounding environment. Our findings reveal that the egg incubation environment impacts upon social learning in adult bearded dragons as the cold-incubated animals in our experiment performed the task significantly faster than those that were incubated at a warmer temperature.” -Dr. Anna Wilkinson, University of Lincoln's School of Life Sciences Source
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Dr. Wilkinson notes that this is likely a form of adaptation to a changing environment. The environment of incubation may have an effect of the adaptive traits of the animal once it has hatched. In this particular instance, those lizards born in a cooler environment may be better adapted to surge than those incubated in a different temperature environment.
"One intriguing idea suggests that incubation environment may 'select' for traits that are adaptive to the specific environment into which the animal being born - for example, a cooler environment may produce animals that are better adapted to survival in that temperature profile and vice versa." -Wilkinson Source
However, even if this is a form of adaptation, it could still pose a problem if temperatures change too drastically.
"This flexibly of cognitive ability could aid reptiles in adapting to new changing environments and could offer a potential buffer in the face of human-induced environmental change. However, if conditions change too rapidly then reptiles might struggle to adapt quickly enough to their changing environments, which could negativity influence their survival." - Harry Siviter, University of London Source
The researchers are planning to continue these studies to determine exactly what sort of impact increased temperatures have on the behaviors and intelligence of various species. One thing is conclusive from this study however: the effects of incubation environments has lasting implications even into adulthood.
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Article Link: http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/
Fascinating post!
I will confess that, as a professional skeptic of sorts, to question the conclusions presented. Perhaps there are other reasons for the reduced action than reduced intelligence, such as impaired vision, lowered metabolism, or various other reasons.
It would be interesting to see if any other tests were conducted to rule out other factors.
Thanks!
Oh I absolutely agree! I added the word "possibly" to the title for that very reason; I didn't feel very comfortable declaring it as fact just yet. And as a scientist, we have to question everything! While it is an interesting set of results, I don't think this is enough to conclusively say that "climate change leads to lower intelligence". I think we are going to have to see further studies conducted to determine exactly what is happening here. I do think the researchers are correct when they say this is not necessarily a detrimental change, but could actually be an adaptation to living in a different temperature profile; I don't really know if their intelligence has suffered so much as they have slightly altered their behavior to survive a warmer world. In my opinion, I think the lizards have comparable intelligence, however their behaviors differ to best enable them to survive. Being intelligent animals, I think we can easily conduct more studies to determine whether this is a simple behavioral change, or an actual shift in intelligence.
The more fascinating part to me is their other conclusion: that even the temperature of incubation can have profound effects on their behavior years after hatching! It does suggest that even in the egg, adaptive traits are "programmed" to give the reptiles the best chance of survival. If it were me, I would have focused on that aspect of the results, and only casually mentioned a possible link to intelligence.
I think you'd have been right to.
IIRC, many reptiles are strongly affected by temperature during incubation, alligators even being sexually determined by temperature.
Alligators, turtles, countless lizards for sure. It does raise interesting questions about how populations will shift as the temperature increases.
I read your title and the first thing I thought was, "what? climate change is maybe caused by stupid lizards?! How's this dude going to show that?". Then penny dropped, he he he.
Hey roughly 12 million Americans actually believe "Lizard-people" run our country! So maybe it's not too far off! xD
Well yes! I think that's why my brain initially computed it the wrong way round!! Well... I think I've just given you an idea for your next article! "Stupid lizard people in White House linked to runaway climate change"
Such a shame to see potential impact like this which could cause a species to be increasingly at risk to survive if this trend continues. I do note that this seems to be one study, and not a series of studies. Perhaps a larger sample size would help confirm the findings.
Do you ever get into analysis of potential (polite way to say almost certain) chemtrails and their impact on the environment? If you're familiar, I'm sure that animals wouldn't be experiencing any benefit from them, as well as humans.
I agree, this is only one study and it does warrant future testing to confirm the results. For now, it does conclude that incubation environment does seem to have consequences even later in life, but only further testing will conclude whether or not this is a trend across multiple species. My hypothesis would be that most reptile probably exhibit the same trends, and this is an adaptation to living in a warmer world, not necessarily a bad thing. It could become a problem depending on the rate at which warming continues.
I haven't seen any studies regarding reptiles/amphibians and chemtrails. Most scientists (according to Smithsonian at least) do not support the idea that chemtrails are a real thing (it's regarded as a conspiracy theory). It depends whether or not you actually mean chemtrails or contrails. Contrails are pretty much just condensed water vapor like clouds, and most scientists agree they don't contain the chemicals the public often believes they do. The study I linked discusses it further.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/science-officially-debunks-chemtrails-conspiracy-live-180960139/
Basically, I don't think there are many studies outlining their effects, as there is a lot of doubt among the science community that they even represent a real problem.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply to keep me thinking. I could go on about the second topic, but perhaps another time. Enjoy your Sunday.
Absolutely! It's a controversial topic so I try to be diplomatic when talking about it (and it's not one I come across often as it's fairly far removed from my field).
Enjoy your Sunday as well!
A intersting study. It reminds me of something I recently saw in documentary:
I assume you know the New Zealand Kea parrot? They are known to be extremely curious, smart and inventive. And their habitat is a rather harsh environment in mountain regions above the tree line, where its cold and has little vegetation.
The Kea have a very close relative, the Kaka. That lives in the lower forest regions, where its much warmer and food is abundent. Interestingly, Kaka are by far not as clever as Kea. Scientist assume that is, because the life of Kaka is much easier than that of Kea, so they dont need to be inventive.
The aspect of temperatures during the incubation of the eggs cast a new light on that matter. I dont know if they ever thought about that. Of course Kea eggs are most likely exposed to much lower temperatures than Kaka eggs, so that could cause a similar effect as what you descibe in your post.
I am pretty familiar with the kea (I did a post about it earlier this year) and I have at least heard of the kaka. And it's a really interesting comparison that you've brought up and I think a valid one. I think we need to investigate exactly why a lower intelligence might be considered advantageous at certain temperatures, then it would be easier to determine if the change is an adaptation or a detrimental shift. What's odd though is the kea and the kaka are different species, so differing intelligence makes sense, but these dragons are the same species, with intelligence differing between individuals (I still think it may just be their behavior that differs instead of intelligence, but that's just my opinion). If we hatched a kea in warmer conditions, would we see the same shift?
Yeah, who doesn't know the Kea? :) They are truely amazing birds, even among the parrots.
True, Kea and Kaka are different species, but very, very similar. On a black and white foto you can barely tell which is which. I would be surprised if they dont have the same ancestors.
As I mentioned, it seems their differences have not been viewed under the aspect of temperatures having a impact already on the eggs. Its always stated, that Kea are the way they are because it helps them to survive in the rough environment. Of course one could ask "If they are so smart, why dont they leave the mountains and go to lower regions, to lead a luxury life like the Kaka does?" But thats probably like asking "Why do people stay in Norway, if they can move to Spain?" Well, its their country, and they dont have to compete with anybody there.
Anyway. This suspicion that temperatures during the incubation of eggs influences the intelligence of the adult animal is certainly significant. I mean, if its true it raises the question, does it only happen to Bearded Dragons? Or to all reptilians? Or even to all oviparous animals? That would be a very serious thing, since it would also affect all birds world wide.
Very interesting article! I am going to try this with my own beardie and see what she does.
Thank you for sharing!!
Interesting. Thank you.
Wow! Climate change effects so many different aspects of our ecosystem. Things that we may take for granted. I wonder how many other species are effected in this way.
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