Abstract
Droughts are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. These extreme weather events can lead to mass mortality and reproduction failure, and therefore cause population declines. Understanding how the reproductive physiology of organisms is affected by water shortages will help clarify whether females can adjust their reproductive strategy to dry conditions or may fail to reproduce and survive. In this study, we investigated the consequences of a short period of water deprivation (2 weeks) during early pregnancy on the physiology and behaviour of a cold- and wet-adapted ectotherm (Vipera berus). We also examined water allocation to developing embryos and embryonic survival. Water-deprived females exhibited significant dehydration, physiological stress and loss of muscle mass. These effects of water deprivation on water balance and muscle loss were correlated with the number of developing embryos. While water-deprived females maintained water transfer to embryos at the expense of their own maintenance, water deprivation also led to embryonic mortality. Overall, water deprivation amplifies the reproductive costs of water allocation to support embryonic development. The deleterious impacts of water deprivation on female current reproductive performance and on potential survival and future reproduction could lead to severe population declines in this species.
Highlights
Understanding the effects of water shortage on the conservation status of terrestrial and semi-terrestrial animals is crucial since droughts are becoming more frequent and intense in some parts of the world with climate change (Cook et al, 2014; Trenberth et al, 2014)
Investigating how water shortage influences reproduction is crucial to predict how natural populations of terrestrial animals may respond to the increasing frequency and sever- Monaghan, 2013; Speakman and Garratt, 2014)
Our study shows that short-term water deprivation during pregnancy compromises maternal physiology and directly impairs reproductive performance in a cold-adapted, viviparous ectotherm
Summary
Understanding the effects of water shortage on the conservation status of terrestrial and semi-terrestrial animals is crucial since droughts are becoming more frequent and intense in some parts of the world with climate change (Cook et al, 2014; Trenberth et al, 2014). The sub-lethal effects of water shortage on the physiology and life history of terrestrial animals remain relatively underexplored relative to the indirect effects mediated by trophic interactions (Amorim et al, 2015; Sperry and Weatherhead, 2008). Droughts can alter reproduction through indirect effects involving changes in species interactions and habitat features (del Cacho et al, 2013; McCreedy and Riper, 2015; McMenamin et al, 2008), most notably through bottom-up effects on the food available to females before and during the reproductive period (Amorim et al, 2015; Smith et al, 2019; Sperry and Weatherhead, 2008). The extent to which such effects on reproduction are common or rare and the extent to which reproductive females can mitigate these effects remains largely unknown
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