Maternal egg care enhances hatching success and offspring quality in an oviparous skink

Abstract

Maternal egg-caring behavior can often be observed in oviparous scincid lizards. The expression of such behavior is predictably affected by the trade-off between its resultant costs and benefits for mothers and/or offspring, which has been investigated in only a few scincid species. Here, post-ovipositional Plestiodon chinensis females were treated to care for their egg clutches without interference, under simulated predation pressure, or to be caredeprived. Potential maternal costs and offspring benefits associated with egg-caring behavior were then evaluated by measuring changes in maternal body condition, egg mortality, and hatchling performance. Egg-caring behavior caused post-ovipositional females to participate less in outside-nest activity, eat less food, and show relatively poorer body conditions at egg hatching. By contrast, compared with care-deprived females, egg-caring females gained mass slightly faster, and achieved a similar body condition within a few months of hatching. Eggs that were cared for by their mothers were more likely to hatch and produced larger, faster-running and better-growing hatchlings with higher survival than uncared-for eggs. Simulated exposure to a potential predator had no distinct impact on maternal egg-caring behavior expression and offspring performance. These results indicated that marked benefits of offspring viability but minor maternal energy costs might play a decisive role in the occurrence of maternal egg-caring behavior in P. chinensis.

Effects of cadmium ingestion on reproduction and maternal egg care in the European earwig

“…Pre-hatching parental care is often key to ensuring successful egg development as it protects eggs from environmental hazards (Smiseth et al, 2012). For example, egg care reduces egg desiccation in frogs (Delia, Ramírez-Bautista, & Summers, 2013), ensures a suitable temperature for egg development in shorebirds (AlRashidi et al, 2010), protects eggs against fungal infection in millipedes (Kudo, Akagi, Hiraoka, Tanabe, & Morimoto, 2011), and overall improves hatching success and quality of newly produced young in oviparous skinks (Lu, Wang, Kang, & Du, 2022). However, the diversity and breadth of benefits associated with egg care come with a substantial risk: impaired egg care can result in compromised embryo development and physiology, with negative long-term effects on the behavior, reproduction and survival of the offspring (Dettling, Feldon, & Pryce, 2002;Foster et al, 2012;Trumbo, 2013).…”

The behavioural and physiological ecology of embryos: responding to the challenges of life inside an egg

“…that brood their eggs protect their progeny against desiccation, hypoxia, and pathogen infection, and also guard their eggs against potential predators (Vitt & Cooper, 1989; While, Halliwell & Uller, 2015). Maternal egg‐brooding behaviour can decrease egg mortality and/or enhance growth and survival of offspring (While et al ., 2015; Lu et al ., 2021).…”