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Scincid Lizard (scincid + lizard)
Selected AbstractsLocomotor impairment of gravid lizards: is the burden physical or physiological?JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2000Olsson Pregnancy is associated with reduced locomotor performance in several reptile species, but the reasons for this reduction remain unclear. Previous authors generally have assumed that the decreased maternal mobility is due to the physical burden of the clutch, but our data on a viviparous Tasmanian scincid lizard (Niveoscincus microlepidotum) suggest a different interpretation. Running speeds of gravid female skinks decrease during gestation (as litter mass increases), but this locomotor impairment is due to physiological changes associated with pregnancy, rather than simple physical burdening. Maternal running speeds are unrelated to litter masses, and do not increase in the week after parturition. Females with very large abdominal fat-bodies (due to ad libitum feeding in the laboratory), equivalent in mass to the litter, nonetheless run rapidly. If the locomotor ,costs' of reproduction reflect all-or-none physiological changes associated with pregnancy, then the magnitude of such costs may correlate only weakly with the actual level of reproductive investment. Because life-history models predict that the relationship between fecundity and ,cost' has important evolutionary consequences, our results highlight the need to clarify the causal basis for locomotor impairment in gravid reptiles. [source] Experimental manipulation reveals the importance of refuge habitat temperature selected by lizardsAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2010MICHA ANDERSSON Abstract Refuges provide shelter from predators, and protection from exposure to the elements, as well as other fitness benefits to animals that use them. In ectotherms, thermal benefits may be a critical aspect of refuges. We investigated microhabitat characteristics of refuges selected by a heliothermic scincid lizard, Carlia rubrigularis, which uses rainforest edges as habitat. We approached lizards in the field, simulating a predator attack, and quantified the refuge type used, and effect of environmental temperatures (air temperature, substrate temperature and refuge substrate temperature) on the amount of time skinks remained in refuges after hiding (emergence time). In respone to our approach, lizards were most likely to flee into leaf litter, rather than into rocks or woody debris, and emergence time was dependent on refuge substrate temperature, and on refuge substrate temperature relative to substrate temperature outside the refuge. Lizards remained for longer periods in warmer refuges, and in refuges that were similar in temperature to outside. We examined lizard refuge choice in response to temperature and substrate type in large, semi-natural outdoor enclosures. We experimentally manipulated refuge habitat temperature available to lizards, and offered them equal areas of leaf litter, woody debris and rocks. When refuge habitat temperature was unmanipulated, lizards (85%) preferred leaf litter, as they did in the field. However, when we experimentally manipulated the temperature of the leaf litter by shading, most skinks (75%) changed their preferred refuge habitat from leaf litter to woody debris or rocks. These results suggest that temperature is a critical determinant of refuge habitat choice for these diurnal ectotherms, both when fleeing from predators and when selecting daytime retreats. [source] Female-biased natal and breeding dispersal in an alpine lizard, Niveoscincus microlepidotusBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 2 2003MATS OLSSON We measured two aspects of dispersal in the alpine Australian scincid lizard, Niveoscincus micolepidotus: (1) natal dispersal, i.e. shift in home range over the lizard's first year of life, and (2) breeding dispersal, i.e. shifts of home ranges between breeding attempts as adults. On average, displacements were surprisingly small. Female neonates dispersed about twice as far as did males in the same cohort (means of 12 m vs. 6 m). A female's natal dispersal distance was not correlated with her body size or our estimate of physiological performance (sprint speed). However, larger, faster-running male neonates dispersed further than did smaller, slower males. As was the case for neonates, adult females moved significantly further between breeding seasons than did adult males (14.2 m vs. 9.6 m). Because of a female's long gestation period (more than 1 year), two groups of females occur simultaneously in the population, non-ovulated (i.e. with yolking folicles) and pregnant females (i.e. approaching parturition). Females that were not yet ovulated showed a markedly stronger dispersal in response to high reproductive effort (i.e. clutch size in relation to body condition) than did pregnant females. In adult males, body size was negatively correlated with dispersal distance, suggesting that although males have overlapping territories, they exhibit an increasing level of site tenacity with age and/or size. Thus, selection for the relatively more pronounced site tenacity in adult males may have resulted in the more marked philopatric behaviour compared to females also as neonates. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, 79, 277,283. [source] Competition and character displacement in two species of scincid lizardsECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 3 2002Jane Melville Abstract The role of competition in habitat occupation and character displacement is investigated in two species of alpine lizards (Niveoscincus microlepidotus and N. greeni), using both controlled competition experiments and field-based ecological work. Competition experiments demonstrate that interspecific aggression occurs between these closely related species, with the larger and more aggressive N. greeni being socially dominant. When these species occur in sympatry, N. microlepidotus was found to shift its habitat occupation to the heathlands, which provide less thermal opportunities. In addition, a reduction in body size occurred in both adult and neonatal N. microlepidotus at sympatric field sites. Differences in body size between N. microlepidotus and N. greeni in sympatry were significantly greater than in allopatry, indicating that character displacement is occurring. Results, combined with previous molecular and biogeographical data, suggest that there is a trend towards a reduction in body size and a restriction in habitat occupation in N. microlepidotus in the north-east periphery of its distribution, which is shaped by competition with N. greeni. [source] Reproductive modes in lizards: measuring fitness consequences of the duration of uterine retention of eggsFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2008R. S. Radder Summary 1One of the primary axes of life-history variation involves the proportion of embryonic development for which the offspring is retained within its parent's body; understanding trade-offs associated with prolonging that period thus is a critical challenge for evolutionary ecology. 2Prior to oviposition, most oviparous squamate reptiles retain developing eggs in utero for about one-third of embryogenesis; the strong conservatism in this trait is a major puzzle in reptilian reproduction. To clarify fitness consequences of this prolonged uterine retention, we need to experimentally modify the trait and examine the effects of our manipulation. 3We used transdermal application of corticosterone to induce gravid scincid lizards (Bassiana duperreyi) to lay their eggs ,prematurely', with relatively undeveloped embryos. Corticosterone application induced females to oviposit sooner (mean of 5·41 ± 0·51 days post-treatment) at earlier embryonic developmental stage (27 ± 0·21) than did controls (13·2 ± 1·22 days; embryonic stage 30·4 ± 0·16). 4Corticosterone levels in the egg yolk were unaffected by maternal treatment, so effects of earlier oviposition should not be confounded by endocrine disruption of embryogenesis. Nonetheless, early oviposition reduced hatchling fitness. Hatching success was lower, incubation periods post-laying were increased, and neonates from eggs laid at earlier embryonic stages were smaller and slower. 5These results suggest that retention of developing eggs in utero by oviparous squamates enhances maternal fitness, and does so via modifications to offspring phenotypes rather than (for example) due to accelerated developmental rates of eggs in utero compared to in the nest. 6More generally, our data support optimality models that interpret interspecific variation in the duration of maternal,offspring contact in terms of the selective forces that result from earlier vs. later termination of that maternal investment. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||