Follicle ablation increases offspring size in a lizard with a low clutch frequency
首发时间:2011-02-21
Abstract:Studies of lizards and snakes have shown that an experimental reduction of offspring number sometimes, but not always, results in an increase in offspring size. We applied the "follicle ablation" technique to an oviparous lacertid lizard (Eremias argus) to test the hypothesis that offspring size can be easily altered by manipulating clutch size in species with a low clutch frequency. Our manipulation of clutch size had the effect of inducing variation in egg size in the first post-surgical clutch, with follicle-ablated females producing fewer larger eggs than did controls. Follicle-ablated females produced a second post-surgical clutch as normally as did controls. The proportional amount of resources allocated to reproduction did not shift seasonally in E. argus, but females normally switched from producing a larger number of smaller eggs early in the breeding season to a smaller number of larger eggs later in the season. Females used in this study never produce more than two clutches per breeding season. Therefore, our data validate the hypothesis tested. Our data also provide an inference that maximization of reproductive success could be achieved in females of E. argus by diverting a larger enough, rather than an extraordinarily high, fraction of the available energy to individual offspring in single reproductive episodes.?????
keywords: Ecology clutch size offspring size clutch frequency lizard
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卵泡切除导致低窝频次蜥蜴后代大小增大
摘要:有关蜥蜴和蛇的一些研究表明,通过手术操纵减少其后代的数量有时但并不总是导致后代大小的增大。我们应用"卵泡切除"手术,以一种卵生的蜥蜴科蜥蜴(丽斑麻蜥)为例,检验操纵低窝频次物种的窝卵数会轻易导致其后代大小改变这一假说。我们对窝卵数的操纵导致了术后第一窝卵大小上的差异,施行卵泡切除术的母体相较对照组母体产少量且较大的卵。卵泡切除术后母体产的第二窝卵与对照组母体无差别。丽斑麻蜥没有显示出繁殖投入能源分配量的季节性漂移,但一般雌体通常选择由繁殖季节早期产大量且较小的卵向晚期产少量且较大的卵转变。本研究中的实验母体单个繁殖季节产卵不超过两窝。因此,我们的数据验证了之前提出的假说。我们的数据同时也提供了一个推论,即在单个繁殖季节,丽斑麻蜥母体通过转移足够大的、而不是异常高的可利用能源投入到单个后代中以达到繁殖成效最大化。
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