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Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards

BACKGROUND: Studies of lizards have shown that offspring size cannot be altered by manipulating clutch size in species with a high clutch frequency. This raises a question of whether clutch frequency has a key role in influencing the offspring size-number trade-off in lizards. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wang, Zheng, Xia, Yuan, Ji, Xiang
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3029399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21305034
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016585
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author Wang, Zheng
Xia, Yuan
Ji, Xiang
author_facet Wang, Zheng
Xia, Yuan
Ji, Xiang
author_sort Wang, Zheng
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Studies of lizards have shown that offspring size cannot be altered by manipulating clutch size in species with a high clutch frequency. This raises a question of whether clutch frequency has a key role in influencing the offspring size-number trade-off in lizards. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To test the hypothesis that females reproducing more frequently are less likely to tradeoff offspring size against offspring number, we applied the follicle ablation technique to female Eremias argus (Lacertidae) from Handan (HD) and Gonghe (GH), the two populations that differ in clutch frequency. Follicle ablation resulted in enlargement of egg size in GH females, but not in HD females. GH females switched from producing a larger number of smaller eggs in the first clutch to a smaller number of larger eggs in the second clutch; HD females showed a similar pattern of seasonal shifts in egg size, but kept clutch size constant between the first two clutches. Thus, the egg size-number trade-off was evident in GH females, but not in HD females. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: As HD females (mean  = 3.1 clutches per year) reproduce more frequently than do GH females (mean  = 1.6 clutches per year), our data therefore validate the hypothesis tested. Our data also provide an inference that maximization of maternal fitness could be achieved in females by diverting a large enough, rather than a higher-than-usual, fraction of the available energy to individual offspring in a given reproductive episode.
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spelling pubmed-30293992011-02-08 Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards Wang, Zheng Xia, Yuan Ji, Xiang PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Studies of lizards have shown that offspring size cannot be altered by manipulating clutch size in species with a high clutch frequency. This raises a question of whether clutch frequency has a key role in influencing the offspring size-number trade-off in lizards. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To test the hypothesis that females reproducing more frequently are less likely to tradeoff offspring size against offspring number, we applied the follicle ablation technique to female Eremias argus (Lacertidae) from Handan (HD) and Gonghe (GH), the two populations that differ in clutch frequency. Follicle ablation resulted in enlargement of egg size in GH females, but not in HD females. GH females switched from producing a larger number of smaller eggs in the first clutch to a smaller number of larger eggs in the second clutch; HD females showed a similar pattern of seasonal shifts in egg size, but kept clutch size constant between the first two clutches. Thus, the egg size-number trade-off was evident in GH females, but not in HD females. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: As HD females (mean  = 3.1 clutches per year) reproduce more frequently than do GH females (mean  = 1.6 clutches per year), our data therefore validate the hypothesis tested. Our data also provide an inference that maximization of maternal fitness could be achieved in females by diverting a large enough, rather than a higher-than-usual, fraction of the available energy to individual offspring in a given reproductive episode. Public Library of Science 2011-01-27 /pmc/articles/PMC3029399/ /pubmed/21305034 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016585 Text en Wang et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wang, Zheng
Xia, Yuan
Ji, Xiang
Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards
title Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards
title_full Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards
title_fullStr Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards
title_full_unstemmed Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards
title_short Clutch Frequency Affects the Offspring Size-Number Trade-Off in Lizards
title_sort clutch frequency affects the offspring size-number trade-off in lizards
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3029399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21305034
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016585
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