About 20 per cent of the world's lizards could be extinct by 2080 if current climate warming trends continue, according to new research.
A global survey of lizard populations including Australia's alpine and desert species has revealed an alarming pattern of extinctions linked to rising temperatures over the past 35 years.
A paper published in Science says hotter daytime temperatures are forcing lizards to retreat to the shade, leaving little time to forage for food or to find mates.
The paper's lead author, University of California ecologist Professor Barry Sinervo, said studies in Mexico showed rising temperatures meant some lizards ''would barely have been able to emerge to bask'' before being forced to retreat to the shade.
He said climate change was occurring too rapidly for lizards to compensate with physiological adaptations to higher body temperatures.
''We thought we'd see evolution occurring in response to climate change, but instead we're seeing extinctions. Beyond a certain point, the lizards can't adapt,'' he said.
