Maternally chosen nest sites positively affect multiple components of offspring fitness in a lizard

Reedy, Aaron M.; Zaragoza, David; Warner, Daniel A.

doi:10.1093/beheco/ars133

Cited by 45 publications

(42 citation statements)

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“…Optimizing offspring phenotypes is another important reason for choosing a particular nest site. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that maternally chosen oviposition sites enhance offspring fitness in this way (Mitchell, Warner, et al., ; Reedy, Zaragoza, & Warner, ; Refsnider & Janzen, ). Toad‐headed agama chose nests with thermal and hydric environments that accelerated offspring development, growth and maturity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…For many short‐lived animals, earlier maturity is favoured by natural selection since it can increase lifetime fecundity and compensate for negative effects of juvenile mortality (Oli & Dobson, ; Stearns & Koella, ). The fitness consequences of nest‐site choice may also appear at multiple life stages (Miller, ; Reedy et al., ; Streby et al., ). For example, our results reveal that nest‐site choice favoured both embryonic survivorship and more rapid growth and earlier maturity in hatchlings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Xia

Wang

et al. 2017

Functional Ecology

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The fitness consequence of maternal nest‐site choice has attracted increasing scientific attention, but field studies identifying the long‐term effects of nest‐site choice on offspring survival and reproductive success are still rare in vertebrates. To investigate the consequences of nest‐site choice in lizards, we quantified the thermal and hydric conditions of nest sites that were chosen by female toad‐headed agama (Phrynocephalus przewalskii) in the desert steppe of northern China. We also determined the effect of nest‐site choice on embryonic development and survival and on offspring growth, survival and maturity by comparing the embryos and offspring from maternally and randomly chosen nest sites. We found that female toad‐headed agama chose warm and moist nest sites that improved the developmental rate and survivorship of embryos and promoted the post‐hatching growth, sexual maturity, reproduction and fitness of offspring, thereby improving their reproductive success. Such studies on short‐lived lizards across multiple stages of embryonic and postembryonic ontogeny are critical for fully understanding the fitness consequences of nest‐site choice. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12995/suppinfo is available for this article.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Xia

Wang

et al. 2017

Functional Ecology

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“…The ability of nesting females to select appropriately shaded nest sites in response to variation in local climates has been documented in several reptiles (Ewert et al, 2005;Doody et al, 2006;Refsnider et al, 2013), and understanding the extent and heritability of plasticity in nest-site choice is vital to reliably predicting hatching success under climate change (Refsnider and Janzen, 2012). Natural selection should favour maternal behaviours that benefit embryonic fitness, but for reptiles with long generation times, microevolution of nesting behaviour may not operate at a sufficient pace to compensate for directional change in the climate (Mitchell et al, 2008;Warner et al, 2010;Refsnider and Janzen, 2012;Reedy et al, 2013;Tedeschi et al, 2016). Quantification of phenotypic plasticity and the heritability of thermal responses requires extensive longitudinal data (Schwanz and Janzen, 2008), which is limited for P. umbrina by the rarity of the species, the lack of repeated observations of nesting females, and the lack of pedigree information for wild adults.…”

Section: Current and Longer-term Suitability Of Existing Habitats Formentioning

confidence: 99%

Reptile embryos and climate change: Modelling limits of viability to inform translocation decisions

Mitchell

Rodriguez

Kuchling³

et al. 2016

Biological Conservation

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“…First, this diurnal lizard often occurs at extremely high densities (Schoener & Schoener 1980;Lee et al 1989), suggesting that intraspecific competition may play a role in habitat use. Lastly, because these lizards thrive in laboratory environments and perform normal behaviors (Reedy et al 2013;, studies of direct effects of adults on juvenile behaviors are feasible in controlled laboratory experiments. Third, recent work ) demonstrates that juvenile and adult age classes differ in microhabitat choice in the field (as mentioned above).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult Male Density Influences Juvenile Microhabitat Use in a Territorial Lizard

Delaney

Warner

2017

Ethology

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Habitat choice often has strong effects on performance and fitness. For many animals, optimal habitats differ across age or size classes, and individuals shift habitat use through ontogeny. Although many studies document ontogenetic habitat shifts for various taxa, most are observational and do not identify the causal factor of size‐specific habitat variation. Field observations of the brown anole lizard (Anolis sagrei) show that juveniles perch on shorter and thinner vegetation than adults. We hypothesized that this variation is due to adult males forcing smaller juveniles to less preferred habitat. To test this assertion, we manipulated adult male densities in mesh enclosures with artificial trees to examine the response of juvenile microhabitat choice. We found that adult male density had strong effects on juvenile perch height, perch width, and substrate use, suggesting that age‐class competition contributes to the observed ontogenetic differences in habitat choice. We also found that time of day significantly affected juvenile perch height and substrate use. In many cases, our results suggest that juveniles distance themselves from adults using different microhabitats from those used in our control ‘no‐adult’ treatment. However, these findings were often body size dependent and varied depending upon time of day. This study highlights the complexity of juvenile perching behavior and demonstrates the role of intraspecific interactions in shaping habitat use by juvenile animals.

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Maternally chosen nest sites positively affect multiple components of offspring fitness in a lizard

Cited by 45 publications

References 46 publications

Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Female lizards choose warm, moist nests that improve embryonic survivorship and offspring fitness

Reptile embryos and climate change: Modelling limits of viability to inform translocation decisions

Adult Male Density Influences Juvenile Microhabitat Use in a Territorial Lizard

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