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Life-history traits of two Mediterranean lizard populations: a possible example of countergradient covariation

  • Population ecology - Original research
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Abstract

The trade-off between clutch and offspring size, which is a central topic in life-history research, is shaped by natural selection to maximize the number of surviving offspring, but it also depends on the resources available for reproduction. Conspecific populations living in different environments may differ in adult body size, clutch mass, clutch size, offspring size, and/or post-natal growth rates, due either to phenotypic plasticity or to local adaptation. Here, we compare these traits and their relationships between two populations of the lizard Psammodromus algirus separated by a 600-m altitudinal gradient. We used a common garden design to control incubation temperature and food availability, with two different feeding treatments. Females were larger at the high-elevation site. Although SVL-adjusted clutch mass did not differ between populations, high-elevation females laid more but smaller eggs than low-elevation ones. Hatchlings were larger at lower elevation. Our common garden experiment revealed that low-elevation hatchlings grew faster than high-elevation hatchlings under both feeding treatments. However, higher food availability at higher altitude allows high-elevation lizards to grow faster and attain larger adult sizes, especially in the case of females. The two key adaptations of low-elevation lizards, large eggs and hatchlings and the ability to grow rapidly after hatching, are likely to enhance survival in low-productivity Mediterranean lowlands. Our data support the hypothesis that the reproductive strategies of these populations provide an example of countergradient variation, because the genotypes that encode for fast growth and large body size occurred in low food availability habitats where juveniles grew slowly and attained small adult sizes.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is a contribution to the projects CGL2007-60277/BOS and CGL2010-17928/BOS funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and to the International Campus of Excellence (CEI Campus Moncloa) launched by Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and Spanish Research Council (CSIC). P.I. was funded by a PhD. studentship from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Permissions to capture lizards were provided by the “Patrimonio Nacional” (owner of El Pardo) and the “Dirección General del Medio Natural” of the Madrid region. We thank Lin Schwarzkopf and an anonymous reviewer for useful comments on a previous version.

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  1. Dpto. de Zoología y Antropología Física (Vertebrados), Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Pablo Iraeta & José A. Díaz

  2. Dpto. de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, MNCN-CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Alfredo Salvador

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  1. Pablo Iraeta
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  2. Alfredo Salvador
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  3. José A. Díaz
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Correspondence to Pablo Iraeta.

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Communicated by Lin Schwarzkopf.

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Iraeta, P., Salvador, A. & Díaz, J.A. Life-history traits of two Mediterranean lizard populations: a possible example of countergradient covariation. Oecologia 172, 167–176 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2492-8

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