Reconstructing an adaptationist scenario: what selective forces favor the evolution of viviparity in montane reptiles?

The American Naturalist
R Shine

Abstract

It is notoriously difficult to test hypotheses about the selective forces responsible for major phylogenetic transitions in life-history traits, but the evolution of viviparity (live bearing) in reptiles offers an ideal model system. Viviparity has arisen in many oviparous reptile lineages that have invaded colder climates. Thermal advantages (eggs retained within the mother's body will be warmer than those laid in the nest) are almost certainly important, but the actual selective pressures remain controversial. For example, the benefit to retention might involve faster development, protection against freezing, predation, or desiccation, or modification of hatchling phenotypes. I experimentally manipulated incubation regimes of a montane scincid lizard (Bassiana duperreyi, Scincidae) to test these ideas. Eggs maintained in cooler "nests" in the laboratory developed more slowly, were more likely to die before hatching, and produced inferior (small, slow) hatchlings. A 2-wk initial period of higher-temperature incubation (simulating uterine retention, an intermediate step toward viviparity) ameliorated these effects. In the field, I placed eggs in artificial nests at the upper elevational limit of natural nests and also extending...Continue Reading

References

Sep 21, 1979·Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character·S J Gould, R C Lewontin

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Citations

May 4, 2004·The American Naturalist·Bernard Crespi, Christina Semeniuk
Nov 17, 2012·Reproductive Biology·Thierry Lodé
Mar 20, 2014·Physiological and Biochemical Zoology : PBZ·Rory S Telemeco
Sep 28, 2004·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Richard Shine
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Feb 26, 2015·Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B, Molecular and Developmental Evolution·R Alexander Pyron, Frank T Burbrink
Jun 4, 2015·Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B, Molecular and Developmental Evolution·Richard Shine
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Feb 20, 2015·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Geoffrey M WhileTobias Uller
Jun 17, 2005·Journal of Morphology·Arlette Hernández-FranyuttiLouis J Guillette
Mar 24, 2006·Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part A, Comparative Experimental Biology·Richard Shine
Sep 10, 2020·Scientific Reports·Lucía Alarcón-RíosGuillermo Velo-Antón
May 4, 2017·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Daniel W A NobleLisa E Schwanz
Mar 27, 2019·Scientific Reports·Manuel JaraDaniel Pincheira-Donoso

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