Kubička L, Kratochvíl L. 2009. First grow, then breed and finally get fat: hierarchical allocation to life-history traits in a lizard with invariant clutch size. Functional Ecology 23(3): 595-601. [摘要下載] Asbtract
Organisms frequently encounter environments with different productivity. Fitness of an individual then depends on decisions made concerning energy allocation to particular life-history traits in a given environment. In reptiles and other ectotherms, individuals on a poor diet commonly reach smaller size and invest less in reproduction, but they often produce larger eggs than well-fed individuals. 2. Several lineages of reptiles including geckos have evolved an invariant clutch size as a derived mode of reproduction. Gecko females produce maximally two large eggs per clutch, but clutches are unusually frequent. Therefore, geckos serve as an interesting group for studying the generality of nutrition-dependent plasticity in life-history. 3. In a laboratory experiment, we manipulated diet in adult females of the Madagascar ground gecko Paroedura picta. Both food-limited and well-fed females followed the same growth trajectory in body and head length. In contrast, allocation to reproduction was highly nutrition-dependent. Although females in both treatment groups reproduced, food-limited females compromised both quantity and quality of their progeny: they laid clutches of smaller eggs in longer intervals. Fat storage was formed only in well-fed females. 4. We propose that the results are best explained by the consecutive hierarchical allocation of resources to growth, reproduction and storage, and discuss the consequences for investigation of life-history trade-offs.
圖片連結: reptilechannel.com (photo credit: Jose Bergada)
圖片連結: reptilechannel.com (photo credit: Jose Bergada)
