Title: Influence of environment on thermal ecology of direct-developing frogs (Anura: Craugastoridae: Pristimantis) in the eastern Andes of Colombia. Edgar A. Bernal Castro 1*, Erika Ximena Cruz Rodríguez 2, José Nicolás Urbina3 Cardona; Andrew J. Crawford 1 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, 111711, Colombia. 2. Department of Biology, Universidad del Tolima, A.A. 546, Ibagué, Colombia. 3. Department of Ecology and Territory, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, A.A. 56710, Bogotá, Colombia. * Communicating autor Physical address: Colombia, Departamento del Huila, Ciudad Neiva, Calle 6c # 16 – 03, Barrio Calixto. Email:
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[email protected] Celular: 57 - 3158507780 Keywords: Physiology, Environmental, Amphibians, Altitudinal, Coverage. Abstract Amphibian’s temperature is a critical variable in the biology and ecology of organisms, especially ectotherms whose body temperatures depend on environmental conditions. In this study we compared the thermal biology of 13 species of frogs of the genus Pristimantis across 11 sites across different elevations in the Eastern Andes of Colombia, and sought to correlate ecophysiological variation with environmental variation at two scales. We measured critical thermal maximum (CTMax) and critical thermal minimum (CTMin) temperatures of reach frog, along with air temperature, and microhabitat temperature and structure. As the height of the locality increases, CTMin decreases in greater scale in relation to the CTMax, which is high in relation to the maximum temperature reported for highlands. There are also differences in thermal physiology between the flanks of the mountain range. The variables of herbaceous cover, litter cover and Humidity are related to the thermal limits of the 1 species.