title: Maternal thermal environment induces plastic responses in the reproductive life history of oviparous lizards.
abstract: Adaptive plasticity may shift phenotypic traits close to a new optimum for directional selection and probably facilitates adaptive evolution in new environments. However, such plasticity has rarely been reported in life-history evolution, despite overwhelming evidence of life-history variation both among and within species. In this study, the temperatures experienced by gravid females of Scincella modesta were manipulated to identify maternally induced plasticity in reproductive traits and the significance of such changes in the evolution of life history. Consistent with the geographic pattern of life history, the study demonstrated that low temperatures delayed egg oviposition, resulting in a more advanced embryonic developmental stage at oviposition and shorter incubation periods compared with warm temperatures. In addition, females maintained at low temperatures produced larger eggs and hence heavier hatchlings than those at warm temperatures. This study demonstrated that environmental temperatures can induce plastic responses in egg retention and offspring size, and these maternally mediated changes in reproductive life history seem to be adaptive in the light of latitudinal clines of these traits in natural populations.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China; 2University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Bao-Jun
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Shu-Ran
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sha
authors.forename: Wei-Guo
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology*; D052287:Oviparity; D012098:Reproduction; D013696:Temperature