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Lett."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Animal colour is a complex trait shaped by multiple selection pressures that can vary across geography. The thermal melanism hypothesis predicts that darker coloration is beneficial to animals in colder regions because it allows for more rapid solar absorption. Here, we use community science images of three closely related species of North American ratsnakes (genus<jats:italic>Pantherophis<\/jats:italic>) to examine if climate predicts colour variation across range-wide scales. We predicted that darker individuals are found in colder regions and higher elevations, in accordance with the thermal melanism hypothesis. Using an unprecedented dataset of over 8000 images, we found strong support for temperature as a key predictor of darker colour, supporting thermal melanism. We also found that elevation and precipitation are predictive of colour, but the direction and magnitude of these effects were more variable across species. Our study is the first to quantify colour variation in<jats:italic>Pantherophis<\/jats:italic>ratsnakes, highlighting the value of community science images for studying range-wide colour variation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rsbl.2022.0403","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,21]],"date-time":"2022-12-21T08:50:15Z","timestamp":1671612615000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Colour scales with climate in North American ratsnakes: a test of the thermal melanism hypothesis using community science images"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9469-4741","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Maggie M.","family":"Hantak","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6682-1504","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert P.","family":"Guralnick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6029-183X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexander C.","family":"Cameron","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology and Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8441-1330","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Aaron H.","family":"Griffing","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA"},{"name":"Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA"},{"name":"Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7784-0070","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sean M.","family":"Harrington","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA"},{"name":"INBRE Data Science Core, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9568-0672","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jeffrey L.","family":"Weinell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3506-2669","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel J.","family":"Paluh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_6_2_2","volume-title":"The meaning of animal colour and adornment","author":"Hingston RWG","year":"1933","unstructured":"Hingston RWG. 1933 The meaning of animal colour and adornment. 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