Effects of temperature and oxygen on growth and differentiation of embryos of the ground skink, Scincella lateralis.

Abstract

Development of reptile embryos is dependent upon adequate oxygen availability to meet embryonic metabolic demand. Metabolic rate of embryos is temperature dependent, with oxygen consumption increasing exponentially as a function of temperature. Because metabolic rate is more temperature sensitive than diffusion, developmental processes are predicted to be oxygen-limited at high temperatures. We tested the hypothesis that the amount of development lizard embryos achieve in the oviduct is dependent upon both temperature and oxygen availability. We evaluated the effect of temperature (23, 33°C) and oxygen concentration (9%, 15%, 21% O2 ) on survival and development of embryos of the oviparous skink Scincella lateralis. We predicted that incubation at 33°C under hypoxic conditions would result in higher embryo mortality due to mismatch between embryo oxygen demand and oxygen supply compared to eggs incubated at 23°C under hypoxic conditions. Embryo mortality was highest at 33°C/9% O2 (86%) compared to 23°C/9% O2 (14%), however, mortality did not differ among any other oxygen-temperature treatment combination. Both temperature and oxygen affected differentiation, but the interaction between temperature and oxygen was not significant. Embryo growth in mass and hatchling mass were affected by oxygen concentration independent of temperature treatment. Differing responses of growth and differentiation to temperature and oxygen treatments suggests that somatic growth may be more sensitive to oxygen availability than differentiation. Results indicate that embryo mortality can occur both via the direct effect of high temperature on cellular function as well as indirectly through thermally induced oxygen diffusion limitation.