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Climate effects on offspring sex ratio in a viviparous lizard

  1. Erik Wapstra1,*,
  2. Tobias Uller2,3,
  3. David L. Sinn1,
  4. Mats Olsson2,
  5. Katrina Mazurek1,
  6. Jean Joss4,
  7. Richard Shine5

Article first published online: 22 SEP 2008

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01470.x

Issue

Journal of Animal Ecology

Journal of Animal Ecology

Volume 78, Issue 1, pages 84–90, January 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Wapstra, E., Uller, T., Sinn, D. L., Olsson, M., Mazurek, K., Joss, J. and Shine, R. (2009), Climate effects on offspring sex ratio in a viviparous lizard. Journal of Animal Ecology, 78: 84–90. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01470.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia;

  2. 2

    School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia;

  3. 3

    Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK;

  4. 4

    Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia; and

  5. 5

    School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

* Correspondence author. E-mail: erik.wapstra@utas.edu.au

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 11 DEC 2008
  2. Article first published online: 22 SEP 2008
  3. Received 27 February 2008; accepted 4 August 2008; Handling Editor: Stuart Bearhop

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Keywords:

  • climate change;
  • climate variability;
  • environmental sex determination;
  • reptile;
  • squamate

Summary

  • 1
    Understanding individual and population responses to climate change is emerging as an important challenge. Because many phenotypic traits are sensitive to environmental conditions, directional climate change could significantly alter trait distribution within populations and may generate an evolutionary response.
  • 2
    In species with environment-dependent sex determination, climate change may lead to skewed sex ratios at hatching or birth. However, there are virtually no empirical data on the putative link between climatic parameters and sex ratios from natural populations.
  • 3
    We monitored a natural population of viviparous lizards with temperature-dependent sex determination (Niveoscincus ocellatus) over seven field seasons. Sex ratios at birth fluctuated significantly among years and closely tracked thermal conditions in the field, with the proportion of male offspring increasing in colder years.
  • 4
    This is the first study to demonstrate the effect of local climatic conditions (e.g. temperature) on offspring sex ratio fluctuations in a free-living population of a viviparous ectotherm. A succession of warmer-than-usual years (as predicted under many climate-change scenarios) likely would generate female-biased sex ratios at birth, while an increase in interannual variation (as also predicted under climate change scenarios) could lead to significant fluctuations in cohort sex ratios. If cohort sex ratio bias at birth leads to adult sex ratio bias, long-term directional changes in thermal conditions may have important effects on population dynamics in this species.
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