The Effects of Climate Change on Lizard Fitness Are Dependent on Nesting Habitat

Maternal nest-site selection shapes incubation conditions and offspring fitness, but climate change may alter its benefits. In the long-tailed skink (Eutropis longicaudata), females nest either under rocks (natural habitat) or in concrete walls (artificial habitat), where temperatures are higher. Previously, artificial sites produced larger, faster-maturing hatchlings with higher survival. However, over the past decade, warming has disproportionately increased temperatures in artificial nests (~1.5 °C vs. 0.5 °C in natural sites), reversing this advantage. Now, artificial sites reduce offspring viability, while natural sites enhance it. Laboratory experiments confirm temperature as the key driver. These results show how human modifications can initially benefit organisms but, under climate change, create ecological traps that undermine adaptive maternal behavior.