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Potential targets for selection during the evolution of viviparity in cold-climate reptiles

  • Physiological ecology - original research
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Abstract

Viviparity (live-bearing) has evolved from oviparity (egg-laying) in more than 100 lineages of squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes). This transition generally has occurred in cool climates, where thermal differentials between eggs in the (cool) nest versus the (warm) maternal oviduct influence embryonic development, in ways that may enhance offspring fitness. To identify specific traits potentially under selection, we incubated eggs of a montane scincid lizard at conditions simulating natural nests, maternal body temperatures, and an intermediate stage (2-week uterine retention of eggs prior to laying). Incubation at maternal temperatures throughout incubation affected the hatchling lizard’s activity level and boldness, as well as its developmental rate, morphology, and locomotor ability. A treatment that mimicked the initial stages of the transition toward viviparity had a major effect on some hatchling traits (locomotor speeds), a minor effect on others (tail length, total incubation period) and no effect on yet others (offspring behaviors). More generally, different aspects of the phenotype are sensitive to incubation conditions at different stages of development; thus, the evolution of reptilian viviparity may have been driven by a succession of advantages that accrued at different stages of embryogenesis.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Gregory P. Brown, Yanfu Qu, Simon Ducatez, Jodie Gruber, Jacquie Herbert, Uditha Wijethunga, and Chalene Bezzina for their help in the laboratory, and Michael Thompson for incubator space. H.L. thanks the Jiangsu Overseas Research & Training Program for its support in the form of a University Prominent Young & Middle-Aged Teacher’s Fellowship. H.L. was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31400341 and 31670422) and RS by the Australian Research Council.

Author contribution statement

HL, MJE, and RS designed the experiments. HL and MJE collected data. HL and RS analyzed the data. RS and HL drafted the manuscript, and all authors contributed to revisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Hong Li, Melanie Elphick & Richard Shine

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, Jiangsu, China

    Hong Li

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  1. Hong Li
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  2. Melanie Elphick
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  3. Richard Shine
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Correspondence to Richard Shine.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement of animal rights

All research was conducted under the approval of the University of Sydney Animal Ethics Committee (protocol 2014/637).

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Communicated by Mark A. Chappell.

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Li, H., Elphick, M. & Shine, R. Potential targets for selection during the evolution of viviparity in cold-climate reptiles. Oecologia 183, 21–30 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3752-9

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