TY - JOUR
T1 - Phenotypic consequences of nest-site selection in black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta)
AU - Blouin-Demers, Gabriel
AU - Weatherhead, Patrick J.
AU - Row, Jeffrey R.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2004/3
Y1 - 2004/3
N2 - Nest-site selection is the only behaviour that can be considered parental care in most oviparous reptiles because eggs are abandoned after laying and because incubation conditions resulting from nest-site selection can have profound effects on offspring. During a 7-year study of black rat snakes, Elaphe obsoleta (Say in James, 1823), we investigated phenotypic effects of incubation temperature on hatchlings, monitored temperatures in nests, and determined the preferred nesting temperature. Temperatures of communal nests were higher than those of single-female nests. In the laboratory, females preferred to nest at temperatures most similar to those of communal nests. Hatchlings from eggs incubated at temperatures similar to those in the warmer communal nests hatched faster, were longer, swam faster, were less aggressive, and had fewer scale anomalies than hatchlings from eggs incubated at temperatures similar to those in single nests. A possible disadvantage of communal nests is that eggs in communal nests may be at greater risk to parasitism by Nicrophorus pustulatus (Herschel, 1807). The incubation experiment allowed a test of a key assumption of a model proposed to explain environmental sex determination. Contrary to that assumption, we found no evidence that incubation temperature affected males and females differently. Our results might explain why temperature-dependent sex determination appears not to occur in snakes.
AB - Nest-site selection is the only behaviour that can be considered parental care in most oviparous reptiles because eggs are abandoned after laying and because incubation conditions resulting from nest-site selection can have profound effects on offspring. During a 7-year study of black rat snakes, Elaphe obsoleta (Say in James, 1823), we investigated phenotypic effects of incubation temperature on hatchlings, monitored temperatures in nests, and determined the preferred nesting temperature. Temperatures of communal nests were higher than those of single-female nests. In the laboratory, females preferred to nest at temperatures most similar to those of communal nests. Hatchlings from eggs incubated at temperatures similar to those in the warmer communal nests hatched faster, were longer, swam faster, were less aggressive, and had fewer scale anomalies than hatchlings from eggs incubated at temperatures similar to those in single nests. A possible disadvantage of communal nests is that eggs in communal nests may be at greater risk to parasitism by Nicrophorus pustulatus (Herschel, 1807). The incubation experiment allowed a test of a key assumption of a model proposed to explain environmental sex determination. Contrary to that assumption, we found no evidence that incubation temperature affected males and females differently. Our results might explain why temperature-dependent sex determination appears not to occur in snakes.
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U2 - 10.1139/z04-014
DO - 10.1139/z04-014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:3142583740
SN - 0008-4301
VL - 82
SP - 449
EP - 456
JO - Canadian journal of zoology
JF - Canadian journal of zoology
IS - 3
ER -