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Population sex ratios under differing local climates in a reptile with environmental sex determination

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Abstract

Populations that experience different local climates, such as those along a latitudinal gradient, must match life history traits to local environmental conditions. In species with temperature-dependent sex determination, such as many reptiles, population sex ratio is strongly influenced by local climate, yet local climate differs substantially among populations in geographically-widespread species. We studied the painted turtle at three sites across the species’ geographic range to gain a mechanistic understanding of how sex ratios are produced under different local climates. We combined data on maternal nest-site choice, nest incubation temperature, and the resultant offspring sex ratio of populations across a climatic gradient, to demonstrate how geographic variation in behavior and physiology translates into sex ratios among populations of a widely-distributed species. We found that populations across the species’ geographic range match incubation conditions with local climatic conditions through population-specific adjustment of maternal nest-site choice. Incubation temperatures during the thermosensitive period were cooler and clutches were more male-biased in the south, with populations farther north having warmer incubation temperatures and more female-biased sex ratios, yet adult sex ratios were not strongly biased in any population. Most components of maternal nest-site choice varied latitudinally among populations, suggesting that the species may have a considerable repertoire for responding to climate change through adjustment of nest-site choice.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the William Clark Graduate Student Award in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (to J.M.R.); NSF Graduate Student Fellowship, Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research, American Society of Icthyologists and Herpetologists Gaige Award, and Leopold Brown Trust Fellowship from Iowa State University (to C.M.-Z.); and NSF DEB-9629529 and DEB-064932 (to F.J.J.). We thank A. Inslee and the staff at Bosque del Apache NWR for hospitality at the New Mexico site; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and members of the 2006–2011 Turtle Camp Research Crews for dedicated data collection at the Illinois site; and W. Brininger, N. Powers, and H. Streby for access to and accommodation at the Minnesota site. This research was conducted in accordance with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocols 1-8-3785-1-J, 12-03-5570-J, and 6-08-6583-J (Iowa State University); Scientific Collecting Permits 3040 and 3430 (New Mexico Department of Game and Fish); Scientific Collecting Permits NH98.0099 and NH10.0073 (Illinois Department of Natural Resources); Scientific Research Permit 17839 (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources); and Special Use Permits 98006, 32576-OA022, and 32560-12-025 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). The Janzen Lab at Iowa State University and three anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on the manuscript.

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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

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Jeanine M. Refsnider & Fredric J. Janzen

  2. Department of Biology, Aurora University, 347 S. Gladstone Ave., Aurora, IL, 60506-4892, USA

    Carrie Milne-Zelman

  3. Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 464 Campbell Hall, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1170, USA

    Daniel A. Warner

Authors
  1. Jeanine M. Refsnider
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  2. Carrie Milne-Zelman
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  3. Daniel A. Warner
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  4. Fredric J. Janzen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeanine M. Refsnider.

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Refsnider, J.M., Milne-Zelman, C., Warner, D.A. et al. Population sex ratios under differing local climates in a reptile with environmental sex determination. Evol Ecol 28, 977–989 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-014-9710-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-014-9710-2

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