SREL Reprint #2560

Scaling of nonpolar lipids with ovum size in the mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum

Mark J. Komoroski and Justin D. Congdon

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina, 29802, USA
Department of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA

Introduction: Over the past half century, the study of trade-offs between offspring size and number has been central to the development of life-history theory (optimal clutch size, Lack, 1947; Brockelman, 1975; optimal offspring size, Smith and Fretwell, 1974; adaptive variance, Crump, 1981; adaptive coin-flipping, Kaplan and Cooper, 1984; reviews, Roff, 1992; Stearns, 1992; Bernardo, 1996). For amphibians, offspring size and number has been studied extensively in relation to various life-history traits (female body size or age, Salthe, 1969; Salthe and Duellman, 1973; Kaplan and Salthe, 1979; Semlitsch 1985) and ecological contexts (embryo thermal environment or metabolism, Kuramoto, 1978; Kaplan 1992; resource or competitive environments of adults or hatchlings, Wilbur, 1977; Crump,1981; Kaplan and Cooper, 1984; Nussbaum, 1985; Kaplan, 1987; Berven and Chadra, 1988; Williamson and Bull, 1989; Semlitsch and Gibbons, 1990; Parichy and Kaplan, 1992; Tejedo and Reques, 1992; Beachy,1993; Kaplan and King, 1997). However, offspring size is only one component of offspring fitness, which may vary as a result of any one of numerous maternal effects (Bernardo, 1996). Although numerous studies of amphibians have addressed the fitness consequences resulting from variation in offspring size, minimal data are available concerning variation in the maternal allocation of specific ovum components (e.g., nonpolar lipids, protective chemicals) that may influence offspring survivorship by adjusting offspring quality independent of offspring size. . . .

SREL Reprint #2560

Komoroski, M. J., and J. D. Congdon. 2001. Scaling of nonpolar lipids with ovum size in the mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum. Journal of Herpetology 35:517-521.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).