SREL Reprint #3760

Differential early-life survival underlies the adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination in a long-lived reptile

Samantha L. Bock1,2, Yeraldi Loera3, Josiah M. Johnson1,2, Christopher R. Smaga1,2, David L. Haskins2,4,
Tracey D. Tuberville2, Randeep Singh5, Thomas R. Rainwater5,6, Philip M. Wilkinson6, and
Benjamin B. Parrott1,2

1Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina, USA
3Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
4Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources,
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
5Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology & Forest Science,
Clemson University, Georgetown, South Carolina, USA
6Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center, Georgetown, South Carolina, USA

Abstract:
1. Many ectotherms rely on temperature cues experienced during development to determine offspring sex. The first descriptions of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) were made over 50 years ago, yet an understanding of its adaptive significance remains elusive, especially in long-lived taxa.
2. One novel hypothesis predicts that TSD should be evolutionarily favoured when two criteria are met—(a) incubation temperature influences annual juvenile survival and (b) sexes mature at different ages. Under these conditions, a sex-dependent effect of incubation temperature on offspring fitness arises through differences in age at sexual maturity, with the sex that matures later benefiting disproportionately from temperatures that promote juvenile survival.
3. The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) serves as an insightful model in which to test this hypothesis, as males begin reproducing nearly a decade after females. Here, through a combination of artificial incubation experiments and mark-recapture approaches, we test the specific predictions of the survival-to-maturity hypothesis for the adaptive value of TSD by disentangling the effects of incubation temperature and sex on annual survival of alligator hatchlings across two geographically distinct sites.
4. Hatchlings incubated at male-promoting temperatures (MPTs) consistently exhibited higher survival compared to those incubated at female-promoting temperatures. This pattern appears independent of hatchling sex, as females produced from hormone manipulation at MPT exhibit similar survival to their male counterparts.
5. Additional experiments show that incubation temperature may affect early-life survival primarily by affecting the efficiency with which maternally transferred energy resources are used during development.
6. Results from this study provide the first explicit empirical support for the adaptive value of TSD in a crocodilian and point to developmental energetics as a potential unifying mechanism underlying persistent survival consequences of incubation temperature.

Keywords: evolution, reptile, survival, temperature-dependent sex determination

SREL Reprint #3760

Bock, S. L., Y. Loera, J. M. Johnson, C. R. Smaga, D. L. Haskins, T. D. Tuberville, R. Singh, T. R. Rainwater, P. M. Wilkinson, and B. B. Parrott. 2023. Differential early-life survival underlies the adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination in a long-lived reptile. Functional Ecology (37): 2895-2909.

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