Temperature Effects During Early Life Stages of the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)

Ligon, Day B.; Lovern, Matthew B.

doi:10.2744/ccb-0738.1

Cited by 35 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…These findings support a previous field study of adult P. umbrina, where growth rates were greater in individuals that exploited warmer microclimates (King et al 1998), as well as studies of other chelonians (Chrysemys s. scripta and Chelydra serpentina) that grew faster in heated ponds (Gibbons 1970, Gibbons et al 1981. The thermal environment prior to hatching had no effect on the growth rate of P. umbrina, similar to a study of the turtle Macrochelys temminckii (Ligon & Lovern 2009), but unlike some other studies of reptiles (Rhen & Lang 1999, Nelson et al 2004 where the thermal environment during embryogenesis had significant effects on posthatching growth rates.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Because low environmental temperatures constrain feeding and growth in tortoises (Ligon & Lovern 2009), we hypothesised that rates of growth and food intake in P. umbrina would increase with increasing temperature. Secondly, due to the importance of energy acquisition in hatchlings, we predicted that hatchlings would have a greater growth rate than juveniles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulated climate change increases juvenile growth in a Critically Endangered tortoise

Mitchell¹,

Jones²,

Kuchling³

2012

Endang. Species. Res.

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Climate change can affect the availability of transient habitats upon which many species depend for growth and reproduction. In south-western Western Australia, declines in winter rainfall since the 1970s have shortened the hydroperiod of ephemeral swamps occupied by the Critically Endangered western swamp tortoise Pseudemydura umbrina reducing the length of the growing period of hatchlings and juveniles. Here, we tested whether the warmer water temperatures expected under global climate change could compensate for a shorter growing season. We increased pond temperatures of captive hatchlings and juveniles (1 and 2 yr old) by 1 to 2°C, and showed that growth rates and rates of food intake increased with temperature, with hatchlings in heated ponds increasing their mass by an additional 78% compared to hatchlings in unheated ponds. Hatchlings had a growth rate 8 times greater than that of juveniles. With an unlimited food supply, we predict that wild hatchlings will reach the critical mass (about 18 g) necessary to survive their first aestivation period at least 1 mo earlier under projected climate change by 2050. However, because shorter hydroperiods translate to longer periods for dry-season aestivation, small tortoises that have allocated all their energy to growth will be especially vulnerable to depletion of energy stores during aestivation.KEY WORDS: Climate change · Hydroperiod · Growth · Tortoise · Pseudemydura Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherEndang Species Res 17: [73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82] 2012

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulated climate change increases juvenile growth in a Critically Endangered tortoise

Mitchell¹,

Jones²,

Kuchling³

2012

Endang. Species. Res.

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“…Janzen and Morjan (2001) showed that temperatures of soil in areas with little ground cover are warmer than temperatures in surrounding vegetated areas. Therefore, placement of nests in open areas likely results in incubation at warmer temperatures, which affects developmental rates, sex ratios, and size of hatchlings Ligon and Lovern, 2009). Slope and aspect might be cues females use to select warm nest-sites, because both have been shown to influence nest temperatures in studies of nest-site selection of other species (Schwarzkopf and Brooks, 1987;Janzen, 1994).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Nest-site selection among reintroducedMacrochelys temminckii

Miller¹,

Thompson²,

Heywood³

et al. 2014

The Southwestern Naturalist

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“…While the warmest incubation temperature (28°C) was associated with larger plastrons at hatching, these individuals became the smallest by 15 months of age. Similar compensatory growth responses by smaller hatchlings were reported in giant Amazonian turtles (Podocnemis expansa) (Valenzuela 2001b), and alligator snapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) (Ligon and Lovern 2009). The effect of incubation temperature on the growth of C. serpentina is not as clear as results from different studies are mixed.…”

Section: Growth Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 51%

The Role of Sex-specific Plasticity in Shaping Sexual Dimorphism in a Long-lived Vertebrate, the Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina

Ceballos

Valenzuela

2011

Evol Biol

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Sex-specific plasticity, the differential response that the genome of males and females may have to different environments, is a mechanism that can affect the degree of sexual dimorphism. Two adaptive hypotheses have been proposed to explain how sex-specific plasticity affects the evolution of sexual size dimorphism. The adaptive canalization hypothesis states that the larger sex exhibits lesser plasticity compared to the smaller sex due to strong directional selection for a large body size, which penalizes individuals attaining sub-optimal body sizes. The condition-dependence hypothesis states that the larger sex exhibits greater plasticity than the smaller sex due to strong directional selection for a large body size favoring a greater sensitivity as an opportunistic mechanism for growth enhancement under favorable conditions. While the relationship between sex-specific plasticity and sexual dimorphism has been studied mainly in invertebrates, its role in long-lived vertebrates has received little attention. In this study we tested the predictions derived from these two hypotheses by comparing the plastic responses of body size and shape of males and females of the snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) raised under common garden conditions. Body size was plastic, sexually dimorphic, and the plasticity was also sex-specific, with males exhibiting greater body size plasticity relative to females. Because snapping turtle males are larger than females, sexual size dimorphism in this species appears to be driven by an increased plasticity of the larger sex over the smaller sex as predicted by the condition-dependent hypothesis. However, male body size was enhanced under relatively limited resources, in contrast to expectations from this model. Body shape was also plastic and sexually dimorphic, however no sex by environment interaction was found in this case. Instead, plasticity of sexual shape dimorphism seems to evolve in parallel for males and females as both sexes responded similarly to different environments.

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Temperature Effects During Early Life Stages of the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)

Cited by 35 publications

References 38 publications

Simulated climate change increases juvenile growth in a Critically Endangered tortoise

Simulated climate change increases juvenile growth in a Critically Endangered tortoise

Nest-site selection among reintroducedMacrochelys temminckii

The Role of Sex-specific Plasticity in Shaping Sexual Dimorphism in a Long-lived Vertebrate, the Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina

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