Anthropogenic nest sites provide warmer incubation environments than natural nest sites in a population of oviparous reptiles near their northern range limit

Francis, Elizabeth; Moldowan, Patrick D.; Greischar, Megan A.; Rollinson, Njal

doi:10.1007/s00442-019-04383-3

Cited by 17 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…However, when Lambert and Steen [38] re-analyzed data in Bowne et al [35] using more biologically relevant urban covariates, the relationship between urbanization and sex ratio was no longer apparent. Clearly, more empirical work is needed to determine if turtle nests associated with urbanization are indeed warmer (but see recent work by Francis et al [63]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impacts of Urbanization on Sex Ratios of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

Vanek

Glowacki

2019

Diversity

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Turtles are particularly susceptible to the negative impacts of urbanization due to low mobility and a life history strategy emphasizing long generation times and high adult survival. In addition to declines directly through habitat loss, urbanization has been hypothesized to limit populations of aquatic turtles through changes in population structure, as adult females are disproportionally killed on and near roads, leading to male-biased populations, which can lead to population declines or local extirpations. The purpose of this study was to better understand how urbanization impacts the sex ratios of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) in an urban ecosystem, as empirical results linking male-biased turtle populations to roads and urbanization are mixed. Using eight years of trapping data from a long-term monitoring program in a suburb of Chicago, IL, USA, we report one of the most male-biased populations (x = 75% male) of turtles in the USA, consistent with prevailing road mortality hypotheses. However, we found no evidence that male-biased populations were related to road density or the amount of protected area around a sampling location and found that impervious surface (a metric of urbanization) was weakly related to less male-biased populations. Our results highlight the importance of replicating ecological studies across space and time and the difficulty in assessing population structure in aquatic turtles. We suggest that active conservation measures may be warranted for the continued persistence of urban turtle populations.Diversity 2019, 11, 72 2 of 13 and degradation [10,13], road mortality [11,[14][15][16], and increased depredation rates by subsidized predators [17][18][19][20]. Understanding how turtles respond to urbanization is imperative in a world with a rapidly increasing urban footprint [4,21] and rapidly shrinking turtle populations [22,23].Urbanization has been hypothesized to further limit populations of aquatic turtles through changes in population structure, as adult females (relative to males and juveniles) are disproportionally killed on and near roads [24][25][26][27][28], and Gibbs and Steen [27] show that turtle populations in the US have become more male-biased over time, coinciding with the proliferation of roads. This problem is particularly insidious as turtle populations can become functionally extinct well before the last turtle in a population actually dies [22,29]. However, empirical results of urbanization impacting the sex ratios of turtle populations are mixed and limited to two species with a limited geographic scope [25,[30][31][32], and a series of recent papers has failed to find an association between roads and male-biased populations [33][34][35][36]. Notably, Bowne et al. [36] found the opposite relationship, and hypothesized that that urbanization could be resulting in warmer nesting locations, leading to more females being produced via environmental sex determination [37] (but see Lambert and Steen [38]).In this study, we attempt to better understand how urbanizat...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impacts of Urbanization on Sex Ratios of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

Vanek

Glowacki

2019

Diversity

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“…Other factors besides enzyme thermodynamics might also be important, such as the transport of reaction products in the cell (Ritchie, 2018). Nevertheless, the Sharpe-Schoolfield model remains widely used because 174 it adequately captures the relationship between metabolic traits and temperature (e.g., see Padfield et al 2016;Salis et al 2016;Bestion et al 2018;Francis et al 2019).…”

Section: Estimation Of Tpc Parameter Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytoplankton thermal responses adapt in the absence of hard thermodynamic constraints

Kontopoulos

Sebille

Lange

et al. 2018

Preprint

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15To better predict how populations and communities respond to climatic temperature variation, it is necessary to understand how the shape of the response of fitness-related traits to temperature evolves (the thermal performance curve). Currently, there is disagreement 18 about the extent to which the evolution of thermal performance curves is constrained. One school of thought has argued for the prevalence of thermodynamic constraints through enzyme kinetics, whereas another argues that adaptation can-at least partly-overcome such 21 constraints. To shed further light on this debate, we perform a phylogenetic meta-analysis of the thermal performance curves of growth rate of phytoplankton-a globally important functional group-, controlling for environmental effects (habitat type and thermal regime). 24 We find that thermodynamic constraints have a minor influence on the shape of the curve.In particular, we detect a very weak increase of maximum performance with the temperature at which the curve peaks, suggesting a weak "hotter-is-better" constraint. Also, instead of 27 a constant thermal sensitivity of growth across species, as might be expected from strong constraints, we find that all aspects of the thermal performance curve evolve along the phylogeny. Our results suggest that phytoplankton thermal performance curves adapt to thermal 30 environments largely in the absence of hard thermodynamic constraints.

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“…The initial colonization of bare rock by lichen and moss is vital for primary soil formation, the establishment of more complex vegetation, and the maintenance of open canopy habitats. These lichen‐ and moss‐dominated areas with shallow soils also provide critical habitat for many reptile species‐at‐risk, including natural nesting habitat for turtles on the rock barrens landscape (Beaudry, DeMaynader, & Hunter, 2010; Francis, Moldowan, Greischar, & Rollinson, 2019; Litzgus & Brooks, 1998; Markle & Chow‐Fraser, 2014). Lichen and moss cover insulates and moderates soil temperature (Kershaw & Field, 1975; Lindo & Gonzalez, 2010; Moore, Smolarz, Markle, & Waddington, 2019) & retains soil moisture while maintaining sufficient drainage (Moore et al, 2019), therefore providing suitable soil conditions for successful egg incubation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, climate change is expected to impact lichen and moss mats in eastern Georgian Bay rock barrens through decreased productivity as a result of increasing frequency and duration of drought conditions (Croley, 1990; Mortsch et al, 2000; Price et al, 2013; Trenberth, 2011) and increasing risk of wildfire (Braun, Jones, Lee, Woolford, & Wotton, 2010; Wotton, Flannigan, & Marshall, 2017). These threats can have additional impacts on at‐risk turtle species as they rely on lichen‐ and moss‐dominated bedrock depressions and crevices for critical natural nesting habitat (Francis et al, 2019; Litzgus & Brooks, 1998; Markle & Chow‐Fraser, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecohydrological controls on lichen and moss CO₂ exchange in rock barrens turtle nesting habitat

et al. 2020

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Lichens and mosses are among the first organisms to colonize the open bedrock of eastern Georgian Bay, Ontario making them essential for primary soil formation and ecosystem succession, while also providing nesting habitat for turtle species‐at‐risk. However, the slow growing nature of lichen and moss makes them vulnerable to ecohydrological stresses caused by climate and land‐use change. In order to better understand how lichen and moss will respond to stressors, we examined which ecohydrological factors (e.g., near‐surface soil moisture and temperature) control the CO2 exchange of lichen (Cladonia spp.) and moss (Polytrichum spp.) on rock barrens, and the time of year growth primarily occurs. Net ecosystem productivity (NEP) was significantly greater in the wet period of the growing season than the dry, with an estimated difference of 0.7 μmol m−2 s−1 for lichen, 2.9 μmol m−2 s−1 for moss, and 2.5 μmol m−2 s−1 for a moss and lichen mix. These findings indicate that the wet portions of the growing season are critical for growth, while lichen and moss have little to no productivity during the dry period. Our results indicate that near‐surface soil moisture is an indicator of the CO2 exchange of lichen and moss, and this relationship varies among cover types. For the geographical regions where warm, dry conditions are expected to increase in duration and frequency with climate change, lichen and moss NEP will likely decrease, thus limiting the long‐term availability of nesting habitat for turtle species‐at‐risk.

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Anthropogenic nest sites provide warmer incubation environments than natural nest sites in a population of oviparous reptiles near their northern range limit

Cited by 17 publications

References 48 publications

Assessing the Impacts of Urbanization on Sex Ratios of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

Assessing the Impacts of Urbanization on Sex Ratios of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

Phytoplankton thermal responses adapt in the absence of hard thermodynamic constraints

Ecohydrological controls on lichen and moss CO₂ exchange in rock barrens turtle nesting habitat

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Anthropogenic nest sites provide warmer incubation environments than natural nest sites in a population of oviparous reptiles near their northern range limit

Cited by 17 publications

References 48 publications

Assessing the Impacts of Urbanization on Sex Ratios of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

Assessing the Impacts of Urbanization on Sex Ratios of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

Phytoplankton thermal responses adapt in the absence of hard thermodynamic constraints

Ecohydrological controls on lichen and moss CO2 exchange in rock barrens turtle nesting habitat

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Ecohydrological controls on lichen and moss CO₂ exchange in rock barrens turtle nesting habitat