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Drought survival and reproduction impose contrasting selection pressures on maximum body size and sexual size dimorphism in a snake, Seminatrix pygaea

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Abstract

The causes and consequences of body size and sexual size dimorphism (SSD) have been central questions in evolutionary ecology. Two, often opposing selective forces are suspected to act on body size in animals: survival selection and reproductive (fecundity and sexual) selection. We have recently identified a system where a small aquatic snake species (Seminatrix pygaea) is capable of surviving severe droughts by aestivating within dried, isolated wetlands. We tested the hypothesis that the lack of aquatic prey during severe droughts would impose significant survivorship pressures on S. pygaea, and that the largest individuals, particularly females, would be most adversely affected by resource limitation. Our findings suggest that both sexes experience selection against large body size during severe drought when prey resources are limited, as nearly all S. pygaea are absent from the largest size classes and maximum body size and SSD are dramatically reduced following drought. Conversely, strong positive correlations between maternal body size and reproductive success in S. pygaea suggest that females experience fecundity selection for large size during non-drought years. Collectively, our study emphasizes the dynamic interplay between selection pressures that act on body size and supports theoretical predictions about the relationship between body size and survivorship in ectotherms under conditions of resource limitation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Luke Fedewa for field assistance. Richard Seigel and Ray Loraine graciously provided population data from the 1980s. Brian Todd provided insightful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. All procedures used in the study were approved by the University of Georgia Animal Care and Use Committee (no. A2003-10024) and by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (collection permits no. 56-2003). This research was supported in part by the US Department of Energy through Financial Assistance Award no. DE-FC09-07SR22506 to the University of Georgia Research Foundation. This study complies with the current laws of the United States of America.

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  1. Christopher T. Winne

    Present address: , 8901 Verona Trail, Austin, TX, 78749, USA

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  1. Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Drawer E, Aiken, SC, 29802, USA

    Christopher T. Winne, John D. Willson & J. Whitfield Gibbons

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Communicated by Raoul Van Damme.

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Winne, C.T., Willson, J.D. & Whitfield Gibbons, J. Drought survival and reproduction impose contrasting selection pressures on maximum body size and sexual size dimorphism in a snake, Seminatrix pygaea . Oecologia 162, 913–922 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1513-8

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