Environmental Variability and the Reproductive Success of Everglades Alligators

Kushlan, James A.; Jacobsen, Terri

doi:10.2307/1564225

Cited by 64 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Analyses of data representing P sustained after the 1 st 3 and 13 months of hatchling life showed marsh canal habitats to be greatly inferior to marsh interior habitats at LOX NWR with respect to P. Prior to the water management practices that have occurred in concert with increased nest flooding in the Everglades, a predictable correlation occurred between the increment of water level rise during the incubation period and water level at the time of nest construction (Kushlan and Jacobsen 1990). This is no longer the case.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Annual and seasonal survival of adult female Mottled Ducks in southern Florida, USA

Varner¹,

Hepp²,

Bielefeld³

2014

The Condor

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Alligators, though a keystone species, are not necessarily at the top of this requirement list. Subsequently, clutch failure rates have changed from low and predictable to high and variable in certain habitats (Kushlan and Jacobsen 1990). Marsh canals at LOX NWR may very well be one of these habitats.…”

Section: Proceedingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual and seasonal survival of adult female Mottled Ducks in southern Florida, USA

Varner¹,

Hepp²,

Bielefeld³

2014

The Condor

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“…They showed that prolonged immersion of eggs in water results in smaller hatchlings and shorter incubation times, but does not increase egg mortality during incubation. However, other studies have shown that even short-term immersion is fatal for reptilian embryos (Tryonix muticus muticus, Plummer, 1976;Crocodylus porosus, Webb et al, 1977; Alligator mississipiensis, Kushlan and Jacobsen, 1990; Pseudemys nelsoni, Kam, 1994). Embryo death normally results from the influx of water into the egg, with consequent egg swelling and rupture of shell and membranes, but these changes do not occur in C. rugosa eggs (Kennett et al, 1993b).…”

Section: Effects Of Overwashmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of tidal overwash on the embryonic development of leatherback turtles in French Guiana

Caut

Guirlet

Girondot

2010

Marine Environmental Research

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a b s t r a c tIn marine turtles, the physical conditions experienced by eggs during incubation affect embryonic development. In the leatherback, hatching success is known to be low in relation to other marine turtles as a result of high embryonic mortality. Moreover, the hatching success on Yalimapo in French Guiana, one major nesting beach for this species, is lower compared to other nesting sites. We assessed the rate of leatherback turtle embryonic mortality in order to investigate the tolerance of leatherback turtle clutches laid on Yalimapo beach to tidal overwash, and we highlight causes of poor hatching success. Of the 89 nests studied, 27 were overlapped by tide at least once during the incubation period (of which five nests were lost by erosion). The hatching success was on average significantly lower in overwashed nests than in non-overwashed, highlighting the existence of embryonic developmental arrest linked to tidal inundation. The stages of developmental arrest and their proportion are linked with time, frequency and level of overwash events. In the context of global warming and associated sea-level rise, understanding the detrimental effect of tidal inundation on the development of marine turtle nests is of interest in nesting sites where turtles are likely to be forced to nest closer to the tide line, thus exposing their nests to greater risk of nest overlap with sea and tidal inundation.

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“…Embryonic mortality is high in different species of crocodylians, such as Alligator mississippiensis [1][2][3], Crocodylus porosus [4][5][6], C. niloticus [7], Caiman crocodilus [8], Ca. yacare [9], C. johnstoni [10] and C. acutus [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…flooding and/or drought, are also important sources of egg mortality. Nest inundation is particularly significant in rainy years [3,12,16]. However, little is known about the tolerance of the embryos to flooding [6,17], or if this tolerance could be altered by eggshell structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eggshell structure in Caiman latirostris eggs improves embryo survival during nest inundation

Cedillo-Leal

Simoncini²,

Leiva

et al. 2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Egg inundation often results in poor hatching success in crocodylians. However, how tolerant eggs are to submergence, and/or how eggshell ultrastructure may affect embryo survival when inundated, are not well understood. In this study, our objective was to determine if embryo survival in Caiman latirostris is affected by eggshell surface roughness, when eggs are submerged under water. Tolerance to inundation was tested early (day 30) versus late (day 60) in development, using eight clutches (four per time treatments), subdivided into four groups: (N ¼ 9 per clutch per treatment; 9 Â 4 ¼ 36 eggs per group). 'Rough' eggshell represented the natural, unmodified eggshell surface structure. 'Smooth' eggshell surface structure was created by mechanically sanding the natural rough surface to remove surface columnar elements and secondary layer features, e.g. irregularities that result in 'roughness'. When inundated by submerging eggs under water for 10 h at day 30, 'smooth' eggshell structure resulted in more than twice as many dead embryos (16 versus 6, smooth versus rough; N ¼ 36), and fewer than half as many healthy embryos (6 versus 13, smooth versus rough, respectively; N ¼ 36). By contrast, at day 60, inundation resulted in very low hatching success, regardless of eggshell surface structure. Only two hatchlings survived the inundation, notably in the untreated group with intact, rough eggshells. Inundation produced a high rate of malformations (58% at day 30), but did not affect hatchling size. Our results indicate that eggshell roughness enhances embryo survival when eggs are inundated early in development, but not late in development. Apparently, the natural surface 'roughness' entraps air bubbles at the eggshell surface during inundation, thereby facilitating gas exchange through the eggshell even when the egg is submerged under water.

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Environmental Variability and the Reproductive Success of Everglades Alligators

Cited by 64 publications

References 20 publications

Annual and seasonal survival of adult female Mottled Ducks in southern Florida, USA

Annual and seasonal survival of adult female Mottled Ducks in southern Florida, USA

Effect of tidal overwash on the embryonic development of leatherback turtles in French Guiana

Eggshell structure in Caiman latirostris eggs improves embryo survival during nest inundation

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