Abstract
An extensive research effort is devoted to the evolution of life-histories and processes underlying the variation in adult body weight; however, in this regard, some animal taxa remain neglected. Here we report rates and timing of growth recorded in two wild-derived populations of a model lizard species, Eublepharis macularius (M, W), other two related species, i.e., E. angramainyu (A) and E. sp. (D), and their between-species hybrids. We detected clear differences among the examined species/populations, which can be interpreted in the terms of “fast – slow” continuum of life-history strategies. The mean asymptotic body size was the highest in A and further decreased in the following order: M, W, and D. In contrast, the growth rate showed an opposite pattern. Counter-intuitively, the largest species exhibited the slowest growth rates. The final body size was determined mainly by the inflexion point. This parameter reflecting the duration of exponential growth increased with mean asymptotic body size and easily overcompensated the effect of decreasing growth rates in larger species. Compared to the parental species, the F1 and backcross hybrids exhibited intermediate values of growth parameters. Thus, except for the case of the F2 hybrid of MxA, we failed to detect deleterious effects of hybridization in these animals with temperature sex determination.
Highlights
An extensive research effort is devoted to the evolution of life-histories and processes underlying the variation in adult body weight; in this regard, some animal taxa remain neglected
Macularius, a mother is an F1 hybrid of the yellow population of E. macularius and E. angramainyu and a father belongs to the yellow population of E. macularius, (MxMA) the first-generation backcross with the yellow population of E. macularius, a mother belongs to the yellow population of E. macularius and a father is an F1 hybrid of the yellow population of E. macularius and E. angramainyu
Our analyses uncovered strong differences in growth trajectories among the examined species which were clearly associated with the asymptotic body weight
Summary
An extensive research effort is devoted to the evolution of life-histories and processes underlying the variation in adult body weight; in this regard, some animal taxa remain neglected. A collection of datasets covering the entire period of growth is sometimes extremely laborious and time-consuming, especially in case of species with slow ontogenetic trajectories and/or indeterminate growers (but see in squamates reptiles[8,9,10,11,12,13,14] and in fishes[15,16,17,18,19]) This subsequently simplifies the description of body growth as a function of growth increments (typically used in agri- and aqua-culture). The logistic growth model fits the empirical data concerning a detailed description of growth trajectories and produces the required information about the duration of exponential growth period further referred to as an inflexion point The estimates from this model are the growth rate, inflexion point, and asymptotic body size[22]. Even in the absence of complex data, www.nature.com/scientificreports/
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