title: Incubation temperature causes skewed sex ratios in a precocial bird.
abstract: Many animals with genetic sex determination are nonetheless capable of manipulating sex ratios via behavioral and physiological means, which can sometimes result in fitness benefits to the parent. Sex ratio manipulation in birds is not widely documented, and revealing the mechanisms for altered sex ratios in vertebrates remains a compelling area of research. Incubation temperature is a key component of the developmental environment for birds, but despite its well-documented effects on offspring phenotype it has rarely been considered as a factor in avian sex ratios. Using ecologically relevant manipulations of incubation temperature within the range 35.0-37.0°C, we found greater mortality of female embryos during incubation than males regardless of incubation temperature, and evidence that more female than male embryos die at the lowest incubation temperature (35.0°C). Our findings in conjunction with previous work in brush turkeys suggest incubation temperature is an important determinant of avian secondary sex ratios that requires additional study, and should be considered when estimating the impact of climate change on avian populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74075, USA Sarah.DuRant@okstate.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0724-0878
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: DuRant
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Laila T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Kirkpatrick
authors.affiliation: Poultry Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Kristin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Navara
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Dana M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hawley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D057231:Climate Change; D004372:Ducks / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D010063:Ovum / Q000502:physiology; D012744:Sex Ratio; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Incubation; Parental effects; Secondary sex ratio; Wood duck