​Many animals are avoiding the worst impacts of global warming by shifting their geographic ranges to cooler climates at higher elevations. However, inhabiting high-elevation environments will also require that species manage the challenges of living with less oxygen. Tolerating this hypoxia in montane habitats may be especially difficult for species that engage in aerobically demanding activities, like courting mates and fighting rivals. We are therefore exploring how aerobic constraints affect reproduction in high-elevation environments.

​The aerobic challenges of mating behavior at high elevations

Many animals perform elaborate courtship displays to attract mates or vigorously fight rivals to defend reproductive territories. Such behaviors have some of the highest aerobic costs of any activity known to science. It remains an open question if or how animals overcome the metabolic challenges of high elevations in order to engage in courtship and territorial behaviors. Our lab is therefore using behavioral field studies, physiological experiments, confocal microscopy, and biochemical assays to address the following questions:

1) How do the aerobic challenges of high elevations limit mating behaviors?
2) Do high-altitude populations exhibit plastic or locally adapted strategies that allow them to overcome hypoxia?
3) How will aerobic demands of mating shape species' upslope migration in response to climate change?

Figure 1. A) Our preliminary results show that fighting ability is dramatically reduced at high elevations. B) Preliminary confocal microscopy shows that the flight muscles of high-elevation dragonflies have wider respiratory tracheae (left) and more mitochondria (right).