Meeting Abstract
The interaction between a developing embryo and its environment can have significant effects on an individual’s phenotypes. Developmental plasticity is considered adaptive when the environment induces phenotypes beneficial in that environment. However, because the environment can change throughout an individual’s lifespan, understanding long-term effects of plastic responses during development is important. In this study, we use lab and field experiments to quantify the long-term effects of incubation moisture on desiccation rate in lizards (brown anole, Anolis sagrei). We have shown previously that incubation moisture has dramatic effects on desiccation rate of hatchling lizards, which in turn influences offspring survival in the field depending upon their post-hatching moisture environment. For example, egg incubation under dry conditions (-600 kPa) produces offspring with significantly lower rates of desiccation than does incubation under wet conditions (-30 kPa). Offspring from dry incubation conditions also have greater survival in dry post-hatching environments than do those from wet incubation conditions. Monitoring lizards via a mark-recapture study in the field, we continued to measure their desiccation rate up to about 1.5 years of age (well into adulthood). Preliminary observations suggest that lizards lose less overall body mass due to desiccation during adulthood than they do as hatchlings. Analysis of the survival and desiccation data (both as hatchlings and as adults) will allow us to assess selection on desiccation rates in the wild and assess the long term effects that incubation moisture has on desiccation rate. Upcoming results from this ongoing project will provide insights into how plasticity associated with incubation moisture changes over the course of a lifetime.
