Meeting Abstract
Maternally-derived stress hormones, glucocorticoids, can induce phenotypic plasticity in many vertebrate taxa, and have consequences for resulting offspring. We tested the hypothesis that increased physiological stress of female eastern fence lizards (Sceloporus undulatus) while gravid will elevate heart rates of mothers and their offspring. Increased heart rates may facilitate energy allocation to deal with the environmental stressors, and can also speed development of offspring and decrease the amount of time in the vulnerable hatchling stage. Gravid females were dosed daily with topical corticosterone (CORT) until laying. Heart rate was measured five days after laying for mothers, and five days after hatching for hatchlings. We found that hatchlings of glucocorticoid-treated mothers had higher heart rates compared to hatchlings of control mothers. However, mothers from CORT-treated and control treatments had similar heart rates. Maternal stress appears to alter the physiology of offspring at five days of age, potentially speeding rates of development and resulting in earlier sexual maturity and larger body size, which could have important fitness benefits. Future work should investigate the adaptive significance of these maternal stress-effect to determine whether these offspring have increased fitness within high-stress environments.
