TY - JOUR
T1 - Macroclimatic and maternal effects on the evolution of reproductive traits in lizards
AU - Padilla Perez, Dylan J.
AU - Angilletta, Michael J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Emilia Martins and Julio Rivera for their valuable comments on an early draft of the manuscript. Our study was partially supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP); grant nos. 2018/17251‐0 and 2017/21747‐8.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/5
Y1 - 2022/5
N2 - Much of life-history theory rests on fundamental assumptions about constraints on the acquisition and allocation of energy to growth and reproduction. In general, the allocation of energy to reproduction depends on maternal size, which in turn depends on environmental factors experienced throughout the life of the mother. Here, we used phylogenetic path analyses to evaluate competing hypotheses about the environmental and maternal drivers of reproductive traits in lizards. In doing so, we discovered that precipitation, rather than temperature, has shaped the evolution of the life history. Specifically, environments with greater rainfall have enabled the evolution of larger maternal size. In turn, these larger mothers produce larger clutches of larger offspring. However, annual precipitation has a negative direct effect on offspring size, despite the positive indirect effect mediated by maternal size. Possibly, the evolution of offspring size was driven by the need to conserve water in dry environments, because small organisms are particularly sensitive to water loss. Since we found that body size variation among lizards is related to a combination of climatic factors, mainly precipitation and perhaps primary production, our study challenges previous generalizations (e.g., temperature-size rule and Bergmann's rule) and suggests alternative mechanisms underlying the evolution of body size.
AB - Much of life-history theory rests on fundamental assumptions about constraints on the acquisition and allocation of energy to growth and reproduction. In general, the allocation of energy to reproduction depends on maternal size, which in turn depends on environmental factors experienced throughout the life of the mother. Here, we used phylogenetic path analyses to evaluate competing hypotheses about the environmental and maternal drivers of reproductive traits in lizards. In doing so, we discovered that precipitation, rather than temperature, has shaped the evolution of the life history. Specifically, environments with greater rainfall have enabled the evolution of larger maternal size. In turn, these larger mothers produce larger clutches of larger offspring. However, annual precipitation has a negative direct effect on offspring size, despite the positive indirect effect mediated by maternal size. Possibly, the evolution of offspring size was driven by the need to conserve water in dry environments, because small organisms are particularly sensitive to water loss. Since we found that body size variation among lizards is related to a combination of climatic factors, mainly precipitation and perhaps primary production, our study challenges previous generalizations (e.g., temperature-size rule and Bergmann's rule) and suggests alternative mechanisms underlying the evolution of body size.
KW - adaptation
KW - energetics
KW - fecundity
KW - reproductive output
KW - tradeoffs
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U2 - 10.1002/ece3.8885
DO - 10.1002/ece3.8885
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130605836
SN - 2045-7758
VL - 12
JO - Ecology and Evolution
JF - Ecology and Evolution
IS - 5
M1 - e8885
ER -