Effects of Constant versus Fluctuating Incubation Temperatures on Hatching Success, Incubation Length, and Hatchling Morphology in the Chinese Skink(Plestiodon chinensis)English Full Text
Wen SHEN;Jianchi PEI;Longhui LIN;Xiang JI;School of Sports and Health, Hangzhou Normal University;Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University;School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University;
Abstract: We incubated eggs of Plestiodon chinensis under five constant(24, 26, 28, 30, and 32 °C) and one fluctuating thermal regimes to examine the effects of constant versus fluctuating incubation temperatures on hatching success, incubation length, and hatchling morphology. The duration of incubation varied considerably among the six temperature treatments, whereas hatching success did not. The mean incubation length decreased as temperature increased in a nonlinear way, and increased as the thermal variance increased. Incubation temperature affected the body size(linear length and mass) and shape of hatchlings, with eggs incubated at 26, 28, and 30 °C producing larger and heavier hatchlings than did those incubated at 24 °C, 32 °C, or fluctuating temperatures. Our results showed that exposure of P. chinensis eggs to extreme temperatures for brief periods of time did not increase embryonic mortality and, in the fluctuating-temperature treatment, the thermal variance affected hatchling morphology more evidently than the thermal mean. Our results highlight the importance of the thermal variance in affecting embryonic development and hatchling morphology, and add further evidence that temperatures within the range of 26-30 °C are optimal for P. chinensis embryos.
Keywords:
Developmental plasticity; egg incubation; hatchling phenotype; scincid lizard; thermal variance; thermal mean;
- DOI:
10.16373/j.cnki.ahr.170029
- Series:
- Subject:
- Classification Code:
Q954.4
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