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High thermal variance in naturally incubated turtle nests produces faster offspring

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Abstract

The effects of climate change on populations are complex and difficult to predict, and can result in mismatches between interdependent organisms or between organisms and their environment. Reptiles with temperature-dependent sex determination may be able to compensate for potential skews in offspring sex ratio caused by climate change by selecting cooler (i.e., shadier) nest sites. Although changing nest location may prevent sex ratio skews, it may also affect thermally sensitive performance traits in offspring. I tested righting, sprinting, and swimming performance in hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta), produced by female turtles from five populations across the species’ geographic range, nesting in a common-garden environment. I found that speed of hatchling performance was faster in hatchlings whose mothers originated from warmer climates, and that nests with higher mean daily variation in incubation temperature produced faster hatchlings. These results suggest that the increased temperatures predicted by climate change models could result in hatchling turtles that are faster at sprinting and swimming; however, it is not yet known how these performance measures translate into fitness.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this study came from the Iowa Academy of Sciences, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles and the Dean Metter Memorial Fund, Sigma Xi, and Iowa State University’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. Thanks to J. Clapp and M. Fritz for collecting permits, and C. Lee for hospitality at Bosque del Apache NWR. R. Alverio-Newton, K. Christensen, R. Clayton, E. Holman, N. Howell, J. Kubik, T. Mitchell, J. Stuart, H. Streby, J. Strickland, and D. Warner helped with animal collection and maintenance of the experimental ponds. This manuscript was much improved by valuable comments from F. Janzen, A. Bronikowski, P. Dixon, C. Kelly, E. Takle, H. Streby, the Janzen Herpetology Lab at Iowa State University, and two anonymous reviewers. All research was conducted in accordance with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocol #1-09-6677-J (Iowa State University).

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  1. Jeanine M. Refsnider

    Present address: Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3114, USA

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  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, 251 Bessey Hall, Ames, IA, 50011-1020, USA

    Jeanine M. Refsnider

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Correspondence to Jeanine M. Refsnider.

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Refsnider, J.M. High thermal variance in naturally incubated turtle nests produces faster offspring. J Ethol 31, 85–93 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-012-0354-9

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