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Climate and sex ratio variation in a viviparous lizard

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 05:43 authored by Cunningham, GD, Geoffrey WhileGeoffrey While, Erik WapstraErik Wapstra
The extent to which key biological processes, such as sex determination, respond to environmental fluctuations is fundamental for assessing species' susceptibility to ongoing climate change. Few studies, however, address how climate affects offspring sex in the wild. We monitored two climatically distinct populations of the viviparous skink Niveoscincus ocellatus for 16 years, recording environmental temperatures, offspring sex and date of birth. We found strong population-specific effects of temperature on offspring sex, with female offspring more common in warm years at the lowland site but no effect at the highland site. In contrast, date of birth advanced similarly in response to temperature at both sites. These results suggest strong population-specific effects of temperature on offspring sex that are independent of climatic effects on other physiological processes. These results have significant implications for our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of variation in sex ratios under climate change.

Funding

Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment

History

Publication title

Biology Letters

Volume

13

Issue

5

Article number

20170218

Number

20170218

Pagination

1-4

ISSN

1744-9561

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

The Royal Society Publishing

Place of publication

London, SW1Y 5AG United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 The Author(s)

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences

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