Anticipatory parental effects in a subtropical lizard in response to experimental warming

Abstract

Parental effects may produce adaptive or maladaptive plasticity that either facilitates persistence or increases the extinction risk of species and populations in a changing climate. However, empirical evidence of transgenerational adaptive plastic responses to climate change is still scarce. Here we conducted thermal manipulation experiments with a factorial design in a Chinese lacertid lizard (Takydromus septentrionalis) to identify the fitness consequences of parental effects in response to climate warming. Compared to present climate conditions, a simulated warming climate significantly advanced the timing of oviposition, depressed the immune capability of post-partum females, and decreased the hatching success of embryos, but did not affect female reproductive output (clutch size and egg mass). These results indicate that maternal warming negatively affects female health, and embryonic hatchability. More interestingly, we found that offspring from parents exposed to warming environments survived well under a simulated warming climate, but not under a present climate scenario. Accordingly, our study demonstrates anticipatory parental effects in response to a warming climate in an ectothermic vertebrate. However, the fitness consequences of this parental effect will depend on future climate change scenarios.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12983-018-0296-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Grow fast but don't die young: Maternal effects mediate life‐history trade‐offs of lizards under climate warming

“…In viviparous species, offspring from females with longer access to basking grew faster than those with shorter basking periods (Cree & Hare, 2016; Wapstra, 2000); offspring from females exposed to highly variable temperatures had higher growth rates than those from females under less variable temperatures (Ma et al., 2018). Moreover, previous studies on anticipatory maternal effects have shown that offspring from parents exposed to a simulated warm climate have higher growth rates or survivorship under similar warm conditions than offspring exposed to a present climate scenario in oviparous lizards (Schwanz et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2018). Such anticipatory maternal effects may enable females to programme the physiology and life history of their offspring, thereby increasing offspring fitness when the offspring environment matches that of their mother, as suggested by the environmental matching hypothesis (Mousseau & Fox, 1998; Raesaenen & Kruuk, 2007; Uller, 2008).…”

“…Chamaille‐Jammes et al., 2006; Lu et al., 2013; Schwanz et al., 2020). This is largely due to the logistical difficulties of constructing outdoor mesocosms suitable for studying the response of lizards to climate warming (Bestion et al., 2015; Sun et al., 2018). To better understand how maternal effects influence the life‐history responses of offspring to climate warming, we conducted a field warming experiment (maternal warm and present climate treatments × offspring warm and present climate treatments) using open‐top chambers, designed to elucidate the impact of climate warming on physiological and life‐history traits of both adults and offspring in a viviparous lacertid lizard Eremias multiocellata from the desert steppe of Inner Mongolia, China.…”

Transplanting gravid lizards to high elevation alters maternal and embryonic oxygen physiology, but not reproductive success or hatchling phenotype

“…maternal effects) to buffer developing offspring from the impacts of novel environmental conditions (Sinervo et al, 2018;Warner, 2014). These effects have the potential to promote offspring success in future environments, such as when maternal exposure to warmer temperatures increases offspring survival in future warm environments (Shama et al, 2014;Sun et al, 2018).…”

The thermal ecology and physiology of reptiles and amphibians: A user's guide

“…Recent development of microclimate datasets such as “microclim” (Kearney et al, 2014) allow extraction of hourly temperature data at any location on the globe, under any soil type, nest depth, and solar radiation regime, greatly facilitating design of naturalistic incubation studies. Microclimate datasets can also be used to produce thermal regimes for free‐living stages, although to be meaningful, experiments with adults should also account for behavioral thermoregulation (Blouin‐Demers, Kissner, & Weatherhead, 2000; Sun, Wang, Wang, Lu, & Du, 2018; Telemeco, Fletcher, et al, 2017).…”