Abstract
We investigated the effects of slightly differing substrate water potentials (-60 versus -100 kPa) experienced by incubating red-eared slider eggs (Trachemys scripta elegans) on yolk use and carcass mass changes of overwintering hatchlings. Hydric conditions experienced by the incubating eggs had no significant effect on yolk use or carcass mass changes in the overwintered hatchlings. The neonates' wet residual yolk mass decreased by an average of 0.67 g during overwintering, whereas wet carcass mass increased by an average of 0.06 g over this same time. These changes were mirrored by similar alterations in dry residual yolk mass and dry carcass mass. Clutch, independent of initial egg mass, explained a sig- nificant amount of the variation in change in both carcass mass and residual yolk mass. A substantial portion of the residual yolk is apparently converted into turtle tissue during overwintering, which accounts for the majority of the change in carcass mass during this time.
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