Cargando…

Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico

BACKGROUND: Geographic variation in body size and condition can reveal differential local adaptation to resource availability or climatic factors. Body size and condition are related to fitness in garter snakes (Thamnophis), thus good body condition may increase survival, fecundity in females, and m...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Valencia-Flores, Erika, Venegas-Barrera, Crystian S., Fajardo, Victor, Manjarrez, Javier
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6420799/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30886780
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6601
_version_ 1783404142545338368
author Valencia-Flores, Erika
Venegas-Barrera, Crystian S.
Fajardo, Victor
Manjarrez, Javier
author_facet Valencia-Flores, Erika
Venegas-Barrera, Crystian S.
Fajardo, Victor
Manjarrez, Javier
author_sort Valencia-Flores, Erika
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Geographic variation in body size and condition can reveal differential local adaptation to resource availability or climatic factors. Body size and condition are related to fitness in garter snakes (Thamnophis), thus good body condition may increase survival, fecundity in females, and mating success in males. Phylogenetically related species in sympatry are predicted to exhibit similar body condition when they experience similar environmental conditions. We focused on interspecific and geographical variation in body size and condition in three sympatric Mexican garter snakes from the highlands of Central Mexico. METHODS: We assessed SVL, mass, and body condition (obtained from Major axis linear regression of ln-transformed body mass on ln-transformed SVL) in adults and juveniles of both sexes of Thamnophis eques, T. melanogaster, and T. scalaris sampled at different locations and ranges from 3–11 years over a 20-year period. RESULTS: We provide a heterogeneous pattern of sexual and ontogenic reproductive status variations of body size and condition among local populations. Each garter snake species shows locations with good and poor body condition; juvenile snakes show similar body condition between populations, adults show varying body condition between populations, and adults also show sex differences in body condition. We discuss variations in body condition as possibly related to the snakes’ life cycle differences.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6420799
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher PeerJ Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-64207992019-03-18 Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico Valencia-Flores, Erika Venegas-Barrera, Crystian S. Fajardo, Victor Manjarrez, Javier PeerJ Ecology BACKGROUND: Geographic variation in body size and condition can reveal differential local adaptation to resource availability or climatic factors. Body size and condition are related to fitness in garter snakes (Thamnophis), thus good body condition may increase survival, fecundity in females, and mating success in males. Phylogenetically related species in sympatry are predicted to exhibit similar body condition when they experience similar environmental conditions. We focused on interspecific and geographical variation in body size and condition in three sympatric Mexican garter snakes from the highlands of Central Mexico. METHODS: We assessed SVL, mass, and body condition (obtained from Major axis linear regression of ln-transformed body mass on ln-transformed SVL) in adults and juveniles of both sexes of Thamnophis eques, T. melanogaster, and T. scalaris sampled at different locations and ranges from 3–11 years over a 20-year period. RESULTS: We provide a heterogeneous pattern of sexual and ontogenic reproductive status variations of body size and condition among local populations. Each garter snake species shows locations with good and poor body condition; juvenile snakes show similar body condition between populations, adults show varying body condition between populations, and adults also show sex differences in body condition. We discuss variations in body condition as possibly related to the snakes’ life cycle differences. PeerJ Inc. 2019-03-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6420799/ /pubmed/30886780 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6601 Text en ©2019 Valencia-Flores 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 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Valencia-Flores, Erika
Venegas-Barrera, Crystian S.
Fajardo, Victor
Manjarrez, Javier
Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico
title Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico
title_full Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico
title_fullStr Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico
title_full_unstemmed Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico
title_short Microgeographic variation in body condition of three Mexican garter snakes in central Mexico
title_sort microgeographic variation in body condition of three mexican garter snakes in central mexico
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6420799/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30886780
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6601
work_keys_str_mv AT valenciafloreserika microgeographicvariationinbodyconditionofthreemexicangartersnakesincentralmexico
AT venegasbarreracrystians microgeographicvariationinbodyconditionofthreemexicangartersnakesincentralmexico
AT fajardovictor microgeographicvariationinbodyconditionofthreemexicangartersnakesincentralmexico
AT manjarrezjavier microgeographicvariationinbodyconditionofthreemexicangartersnakesincentralmexico