Bókony V, Milne G, Pipoly I, Székely T, Liker A. Sex ratios and bimaturism differ between temperature-dependent and genetic sex-determination systems in reptiles.
BMC Evol Biol 2019;
19:57. [PMID:
30777013 PMCID:
PMC6378719 DOI:
10.1186/s12862-019-1386-3]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Accepted: 02/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Sex-determining systems may profoundly influence the ecology, behaviour and demography of animals, yet these relationships are poorly understood. Here we investigate whether species with temperature-dependent (TSD) and genetic sex determination (GSD) differ in key demographic traits, using data from 181 species representing all major phylogenetic lineages of extant reptiles.
RESULTS
We show that species with TSD exhibit significantly higher within-species variance in sex ratios than GSD species in three major life stages: birth or hatching, juvenility and adulthood. In contrast, sex differences in adult mortality rates do not differ between GSD and TSD species. However, TSD species exhibit significantly greater sex differences in maturation ages than GSD species.
CONCLUSION
These results support the recent theoretical model that evolution of TSD is facilitated by sex-specific fitness benefits of developmental temperatures due to bimaturism. Our findings suggest that different sex-determination systems are associated with different demographic characteristics that may influence population viability and social evolution.
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