Miha Krofel

Aim Physiological and metabolic performance are key mediators of the functional response of species to environmental change. Few environments offer such a multifaceted array of stressors as high‐altitude habitats, which differ markedly in temperature, water availability, UV radiation and oxygen pressure compared to low‐altitude habitats. Species that inhabit large altitudinal gradients are thus excellent models to study how organisms respond to environmental variation. Location Tenerife island, Canary Islands archipelago (Spain). Taxon Tenerife lizard ( Gallotia galloti , Lacertidae). Methods We integrated data on age structure, thermal and hydric regulatory behaviour and four metabolic and stress‐related biomarkers for an insular lizard that inhabits an extreme altitudinal range (sea level to 3700 m a.s.l.), to understand how an ectotherms' age, ecophysiology and metabolism can be affected by extreme environmental variation. Results We found marked differences in metabolic stress markers associated with altitude (particularly in the abundance of carbonyl metabolites and relative telomere length), but without a linear pattern along the altitudinal cline. Contrary to expectations, longer telomeres and lower carbonyl content were detected at the highest altitude, suggesting reduced stress in these populations. Evaporative water loss differed between populations but did not follow a linear altitudinal gradient. Lizard age structure or thermal physiological performance did not markedly change across different altitudes. Mixed signals in life‐history and thermal ecology across populations and altitude suggest complex responses to variable conditions across altitude in this species. Main Conclusions Our integrative study of multiple functional traits demonstrated that adaptation to highly divergent environmental conditions in this lizard is potentially linked to an interplay between plasticity and local adaptation variably associated with different functional traits.

Olfactory communication is important for many solitary carnivores to delineate territories and communicate with potential mates and competitors. Pallas’s cats ( Otocolobus manul ) are small felids with little published research on their ecology and behaviour, including if they avoid or change behaviours due to dominant carnivores. We studied their olfactory communication and visitation at scent-marking sites using camera traps in two study areas in Mongolia. We documented four types of olfactory communication behaviours, and olfaction (sniffing) was the most frequent. Pallas’s cats used olfactory communication most frequently at sites that were not visited by snow leopards ( Panthera uncia ) and when they used communal scent-marking sites, they were more likely to use olfactory communication when a longer time had elapsed since the last visit by a snow leopard. This suggests that Pallas’s cats may reduce advertising their presence in response to occurrence of snow leopards, possibly to limit predation risk.