Incubation under climate warming affects learning ability and survival in hatchling lizards

Dayananda, B; Webb, JK

Incubation under climate warming affects learning ability and survival in hatchling lizards

Dayananda, B

Webb, JK

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Biology Letters, 2017, 13 (3)
Issue Date:: 2017-03-01

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	20170002.full.pdf	Published Version	290.72 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Dayananda, B https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7607-0596	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Webb, JK https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4822-6829	en_US
dc.date.available	2017-02-21	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-03-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Biology Letters, 2017, 13 (3)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1744-9561	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124461
dc.description.abstract	© 2017 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Despite compelling evidence for substantial individual differences in cognitive performance, it is unclear whether cognitive ability influences fitness of wild animals. In many animals, environmental stressors experienced in utero can produce substantial variation in the cognitive abilities of offspring. In reptiles, incubation temperatures experienced by embryos can influence hatchling brain function and learning ability. Under climate warming, the eggs of some lizard species may experience higher temperatures, which could affect the cognitive abilities of hatchlings. Whether such changes in cognitive abilities influence the survival of hatchlings is unknown. To determine whether incubation-induced changes in spatial learning ability affect hatchling survival, we incubated velvet gecko, Amalosia lesueurii, eggs using two fluctuating temperature regimes to mimic current (cold) versus future (hot) nest temperatures. We measured the spatial learning ability of hatchlings from each treatment, and released individually marked animals at two field sites in southeastern Australia. Hatchlings from hot-incubated eggs were slower learners than hatchlings from cold-incubated eggs. Survival analyses revealed that hatchlings with higher learning scores had higher survival than hatchlings with poor learning scores. Our results show that incubation temperature affects spatial learning ability in hatchling lizards, and that such changes can influence the survival of hatchlings in the wild.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Biology Letters	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1098/rsbl.2017.0002	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Evolutionary Biology	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Ovum	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Embryo, Nonmammalian	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Animals	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Animals, Newborn	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Lizards	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Behavior, Animal	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Escape Reaction	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Temperature	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	New South Wales	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Female	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Climate Change	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Spatial Learning	en_US
dc.title	Incubation under climate warming affects learning ability and survival in hatchling lizards	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	3	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	13	en_US
utslib.for	0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology	en_US
utslib.for	06 Biological Sciences	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Life Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	3	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	13	en_US

Abstract:

© 2017 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Despite compelling evidence for substantial individual differences in cognitive performance, it is unclear whether cognitive ability influences fitness of wild animals. In many animals, environmental stressors experienced in utero can produce substantial variation in the cognitive abilities of offspring. In reptiles, incubation temperatures experienced by embryos can influence hatchling brain function and learning ability. Under climate warming, the eggs of some lizard species may experience higher temperatures, which could affect the cognitive abilities of hatchlings. Whether such changes in cognitive abilities influence the survival of hatchlings is unknown. To determine whether incubation-induced changes in spatial learning ability affect hatchling survival, we incubated velvet gecko, Amalosia lesueurii, eggs using two fluctuating temperature regimes to mimic current (cold) versus future (hot) nest temperatures. We measured the spatial learning ability of hatchlings from each treatment, and released individually marked animals at two field sites in southeastern Australia. Hatchlings from hot-incubated eggs were slower learners than hatchlings from cold-incubated eggs. Survival analyses revealed that hatchlings with higher learning scores had higher survival than hatchlings with poor learning scores. Our results show that incubation temperature affects spatial learning ability in hatchling lizards, and that such changes can influence the survival of hatchlings in the wild.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124461