A recent increase in the frequency of heat waves has urged researchers to examine organismal responses to acute extreme temperatures. Additionally, if sexes differ in their response to extreme temperatures, heat can disproportionately affect males and females. These sex-specific physiological responses to transient extreme temperatures are critical as sex differences and weather events can potentially lead to population instability. In this study we examine how circulating corticosterone, glucose, ketone, and DNA damage levels differ in males and females after exposure to an acute heat event.  

Early hypotheses in oxidative damage research predicted that reactive oxygen species generation would positively correlate with metabolic rates. However, researchers are failing to support this hypothesis in their studies. Ectotherms are great model organisms for temperature related questions as metabolic rate and many other physiological processes are positively correlated with their ambient temperature. Many ectotherms inhabit large latitudinal ranges where populations are being exposed to warmer or cooler annual temperatures. Some studies show that lizards from northern latitudes have different physiological rates compared to lizards from southern latitudes. This project examines if lizards from different latitudes incur differing amounts of oxidative damage depending on the thermal environment they are exposed to.