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Castellón TD, Rothermel BB, Beck JL, Fort JL, O'Connor KM. Divergent Size-Class Distributions of Gopher Tortoise Burrows in Scrub and Flatwoods Habitats of Peninsular Florida. CHELONIAN CONSERVATION AND BIOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.2744/ccb-1523.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Traci D. Castellón
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, 1105 SW Williston Road, Gainesville, Florida 32601 USA []
| | - Betsie B. Rothermel
- Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Drive, Venus, Florida 33960 USA [; ; ; ]
| | - Jennifer L. Beck
- Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Drive, Venus, Florida 33960 USA [; ; ; ]
| | - Jessica L. Fort
- Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Drive, Venus, Florida 33960 USA [; ; ; ]
| | - Kelly M. O'Connor
- Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Drive, Venus, Florida 33960 USA [; ; ; ]
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2
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Hunter EA, Loope KJ, Drake KK, Hanley K, Jones DN, Shoemaker KT, Rostal DC. Warming conditions boost reproductive output for a northern gopher tortoise population. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2021. [DOI: 10.3354/esr01155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The effects of climate change on at-risk species will depend on how life history processes respond to climate and whether the seasonal timing of local climate changes overlaps with species-specific windows of climate sensitivity. For long-lived, iteroparous species like gopher tortoises Gopherus polyphemus, climate likely has a greater influence on reproduction than on adult survival. Our objective was to estimate the timing, magnitude, and direction of climate-driven effects on gopher tortoise reproductive output using a 25 yr dataset collected in southeastern Georgia, USA, near the northern edge of the species’ range. We assessed the timing of climate effects on reproductive output (both probability of reproduction and clutch size) by fitting models with climate covariates (maximum temperature, precipitation, and temperature range) summarized at all possible time intervals (in 1 mo increments) within the 24 mo period prior to the summer census date. We then fit a final model of reproductive output as a function of the identified climate variables and time windows using a Bayesian mixture model. Probability of reproduction was positively correlated with the prior year’s April-May maximum temperature, and clutch size was positively correlated with the prior year’s June maximum temperature. April-May and June maximum temperatures have increased over the past 3 decades at the study site, which likely led to an increase in clutch size of approximately 1 egg (15% increase over a mean of 6.5 eggs). However, the net effect of climate change on gopher tortoise population dynamics will depend on whether there are opposing or reinforcing climate responses for other demographic rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- EA Hunter
- US Geological Survey, Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, 310 W. Campus Dr., Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - KJ Loope
- Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, 1332 Southern Dr., Statesboro, GA 30458, USA
| | - KK Drake
- US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, 160 N. Stephanie Dr., Henderson, NV 89074, USA
| | - K Hanley
- Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, 1332 Southern Dr., Statesboro, GA 30458, USA
| | - DN Jones
- Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, 1332 Southern Dr., Statesboro, GA 30458, USA
- US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7, 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219, USA
| | - KT Shoemaker
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada - Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - DC Rostal
- Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, 1332 Southern Dr., Statesboro, GA 30458, USA
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3
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Lindeman PV. Comparative Reproductive Allometry of Syntopic Black-Knobbed Sawbacks (Graptemys nigrinoda) and Alabama Map Turtles (Graptemys pulchra) in the Alabama River, with Comparison to Three Congeners. CHELONIAN CONSERVATION AND BIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.2744/ccb-1399.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Peter V. Lindeman
- Department of Biology and Health Sciences, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, 230 Scotland Road, Edinboro, Pennsylvania 16444 USA []
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4
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Greene RE, Tuberville TD, Chamberlain MJ, Miller DA, Wigley TB, Martin JA. A Review of Gopher Tortoise Demography and Movements in Production Pine Forest Landscapes. WILDLIFE SOC B 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/wsb.1035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rachel E. Greene
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Georgia 180 E Green Street Athens GA 30602 USA
| | - Tracey D. Tuberville
- Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Drawer EAiken SC 29802 USA
| | - Michael J. Chamberlain
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Georgia 180 E Green Street Athens GA 30602 USA
| | | | - T. Bently Wigley
- National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. P.O. Box 340317 Clemson SC 29634‐0317 USA
| | - James A. Martin
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Georgia 180 E Green Street Athens GA 30602 USA
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Howell HJ, Rothermel BB, White KN, Searcy CA. Gopher Tortoise Demographic Responses to a Novel Disturbance Regime. J Wildl Manage 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.21774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hunter J. Howell
- Department of BiologyUniversity of Miami 1301 Memorial Drive Coral Gables FL 33146 USA
| | | | - K. Nicole White
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Georgia 180 E Green Street Athens GA 30602 USA
| | - Christopher A. Searcy
- Department of BiologyUniversity of Miami 1301 Memorial Drive Coral Gables FL 33146 USA
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Iverson JB, Lindeman PV, Lovich JE. Understanding reproductive allometry in turtles: A slippery "slope". Ecol Evol 2019; 9:11891-11903. [PMID: 31695895 PMCID: PMC6822033 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2019] [Revised: 09/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Measures of reproductive output in turtles are generally positively correlated with female body size. However, a full understanding of reproductive allometry in turtles requires logarithmic transformation of reproductive and body size variables prior to regression analyses. This allows for slope comparisons with expected linear or cubic relationships for linear to linear and linear to volumetric variables, respectively. We compiled scaling data using this approach from published and unpublished turtle studies (46 populations of 25 species from eight families) to quantify patterns among taxa. Our results suggest that for log-log comparisons of clutch size, egg width, egg mass, clutch mass, and pelvic aperture width to shell length, all scale hypoallometrically despite theoretical predictions of isometry. Clutch size generally scaled at ~1.7 to 2.0 (compared to an isometric expectation of 3.0), egg width at ~0.5 (compared to an expectation of 1.0), egg mass at ~1.1 to 1.3 (3.0), clutch mass at ~2.5 to 2.8 (3.0), and pelvic aperture width at 0.8-0.9 (1.0). We also found preliminary evidence that scaling may differ across years and clutches even in the same population, as well as across populations of the same species. Future investigators should aspire to collect data on all these reproductive parameters and to report log-log allometric analyses to test our preliminary conclusions regarding reproductive allometry in turtles.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Peter V. Lindeman
- Department of Biology and Health SciencesEdinboro University of PennsylvaniaEdinboroPAUSA
| | - Jeffrey E. Lovich
- U.S. Geological SurveySouthwest Biological Science CenterFlagstaffAZUSA
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7
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Yuan ML, White KN, Rothermel BB, Zamudio KR, Tuberville TD. Close-kin mating, but not inbred parents, reduces hatching rates and offspring quality in a threatened tortoise. J Evol Biol 2019; 32:1152-1162. [PMID: 31397924 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Revised: 08/05/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Inbreeding depression, the reduction in fitness due to mating of related individuals, is of particular conservation concern in species with small, isolated populations. Although inbreeding depression is widespread in natural populations, long-lived species may be buffered from its effects during population declines due to long generation times and thus are less likely to have evolved mechanisms of inbreeding avoidance than species with shorter generation times. However, empirical evidence of the consequences of inbreeding in threatened, long-lived species is limited. In this study, we leverage a well-studied population of gopher tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus, to examine the role of inbreeding depression and the potential for behavioural inbreeding avoidance in a natural population of a long-lived species. We tested the hypothesis that increased parental inbreeding leads to reduced hatching rates and offspring quality. Additionally, we tested for evidence of inbreeding avoidance. We found that high parental relatedness results in offspring with lower quality and that high parental relatedness is correlated with reduced hatching success. However, we found that hatching success and offspring quality increase with maternal inbreeding, likely due to highly inbred females mating with more distantly related males. We did not find evidence for inbreeding avoidance in males and outbred females, suggesting sex-specific evolutionary trade-offs may have driven the evolution of mating behaviour. Our results demonstrate inbreeding depression in a long-lived species and that the evolution of inbreeding avoidance is shaped by multiple selective forces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael L Yuan
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Archbold Biological Station, Venus, FL, USA
| | - K Nicole White
- Archbold Biological Station, Venus, FL, USA.,Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC, USA.,Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | | | - Kelly R Zamudio
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Averill-Murray RC, Christopher TE, Henen BT. Reproductive Ecology and Life History of Female Sonoran Desert Tortoises (Gopherus morafkai). HERPETOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS 2018. [DOI: 10.1655/herpmonographs-d-18-00003.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Roy C. Averill-Murray
- Nongame Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 5000 West Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086, USA
| | - Terry E. Christopher
- Smithsonian Institution, Department of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, 3001 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC 20008, USA
| | - Brian T. Henen
- Smithsonian Institution, Department of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, 3001 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC 20008, USA
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Deeming DC. Nesting environment may drive variation in eggshell structure and egg characteristics in the Testudinata. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART 2018; 329:331-342. [DOI: 10.1002/jez.2169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2018] [Revised: 03/28/2018] [Accepted: 04/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- D. Charles Deeming
- School of Life Sciences; Joseph Banks Laboratories; University of Lincoln; Lincoln, LN6 7DL UK
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Castellón TD, Rothermel BB, Bauder JM. Gopher Tortoise Burrow Use, Home Range, Seasonality, and Habitat Fidelity in Scrub and Mesic Flatwoods of Southern Florida. HERPETOLOGICA 2018. [DOI: 10.1655/herpetologica-d-17-00030.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Javan M. Bauder
- Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
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Joos J, Kirchner M, Vamberger M, Kaviani M, Rahimibashar MR, Fritz U, MÜller J. Climate and patterns of body size variation in the European pond turtle, Emys orbicularis. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blx056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
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12
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Fehrenbach AK, Louque I, McFadden SL, Huntzinger C, Lyons E, Shively SH, Selman W, Lindeman PV. Habitat-Related Variation in Body Size and Reproductive Output and an Examination of Reproductive Allometry in the Sabine Map Turtle (Graptemys sabinensis) across Three River Drainages. COPEIA 2016. [DOI: 10.1643/ce-15-273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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13
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Werner YL, Korolker N, Sion G, Göçmen B. Bergmann's and Rensch's rules and the spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca). Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yehudah L. Werner
- The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences (Dept EEB); The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; 91904 Jerusalem Israel
- Museum für Tierkunde, Senckenberg Dresden; Königsbrücker Landstrasse 159 D-01109 Dresden Germany
| | - Nuphar Korolker
- The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences (Dept EEB); The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; 91904 Jerusalem Israel
| | - Guy Sion
- The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences (Dept EEB); The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; 91904 Jerusalem Israel
| | - Bayram Göçmen
- Zoology Section; Department of Biology; Faculty of Science; Ege University; 35100 Bornova-Izmir Turkey
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