ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Amphib. Reptile Sci.
Sec. Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicPhysiological Frontiers: Unveiling Hidden Mechanisms in Neotropical Amphibians and Reptiles Facing Environmental ChallengesView all articles
Climate change may improve physiological suitability for three widespread Mexican snakes
Provisionally accepted
- 1Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
- 2Laboratorio Nacional de Biología del Cambio Climático, Mexico City, Mexico
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Thermal tolerance and performance breadth can define the suitable areas where reptiles can survive and perform at an optimal physiological level. It is important to determine the distribution of suitable areas for reptile physiology and to assess how they could change in future climate change scenarios. In this paper we utilized a mechanistic approach to model the physiological suitability of three snakes endemic to Mexico: Crotalus polystictus, Conopsis lineata and Thamnophis melanogaster. Utilizing thermal physiology data previously generated, we modelled operative temperatures in the present and in 2070, under SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5. We utilized performance breadth as the suitability threshold and calculated the amount of daily and annual hours that fall within this range in each grid cell of the accessibility areas of the three species. We found that suitability is at its highest on the pine-oak forests in mountainous regions. Future scenarios will provide wider windows with favorable temperatures, and the suitability of the three species will increase in most of their accessible areas. On average, annual hours of physiological suitability will increase by 103% and 133% (under SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5, respectively) for C. polystictus, 12% and 14% for C. lineata, and 17% and 20% for T. melanogaster. These results show that the thermal environments of the mountainous regions of Mexico are very important for the sustenance of these species in a changing world. These areas are hotspots for reptile biodiversity, but they face problems of area reduction. Further research considering the effect of temperature on reproduction or the change in precipitation, would provide a broader picture about the physiological responses of these species. Integrating physiological information like this in a geographical context is important to designing adequate conservation strategies for reptiles.
Keywords: Climate Change, Ecophysiology, mechanistic models, thermal ecology, Snakes, Performance breadth
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Figueroa-Huitrón and Pérez-Mendoza. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hibraim Adán Pérez-Mendoza, hibraimperez@unam.mx
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