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. 2024 May 10;14(5):e11306.
doi: 10.1002/ece3.11306. eCollection 2024 May.

Anthropogenic and climatic factors interact to influence reproductive timing and effort

Geoffrey D Smith  1 , Travis E Wilcoxen  2 , Spencer B Hudson  3   4 , Emily E Virgin  3   4 , Andrew M Durso  5 , Marilize Van der Walt  3 , Austin R Spence  6 , Lorin A Neuman-Lee  7 , Alison C Webb  3   4 , Patricia A Terletzky  4   8 , Susannah S French  3   4
Affiliations

Anthropogenic and climatic factors interact to influence reproductive timing and effort

Geoffrey D Smith et al. Ecol Evol. .

Abstract

Reproduction, although absolutely essential to a species' persistence, is in itself challenging. As anthropogenic change increasingly affects every landscape on Earth, it is critical to understand how specific pressures impact the reproductive efforts of individuals, which directly contribute to the success or failure of populations. However, organisms rarely encounter a single burden at a time, and the interactions of environmental challenges can have compounding effects. Understanding environmental and physiological pressures is difficult because they are often context-dependent and not generalizable, but long-term monitoring across variable landscapes and weather patterns can improve our understanding of these complex interactions. We tested the effects of urbanization, climate, and individual condition on the reproductive investment of wild side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) by measuring physiological/reproductive metrics from six populations in urban and rural areas over six consecutive years of variable precipitation. We observed that reproductive stage affected body condition, corticosterone concentration, and oxidative stress. We also observed that reproductive patterns differed between urban and rural populations depending on rainfall, with rural animals increasing reproductive investment during rainier years compared to urban conspecifics, and that reproductive decisions appeared to occur early in the reproductive process. These results demonstrate the plastic nature of a generalist species optimizing lifetime fitness under varying conditions.

Keywords: fitness; precipitation; reproductive stage; stress; urbanization.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interests, financial or otherwise, for any of the authors.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Regression of body condition index on principal component 1 from factor reduction of follicle length + clutch size. Residuals of this regression were used as the female reproductive investment index.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Differences in body condition among vitellogenic stages in female Uta stansburiana.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Differences in corticosterone among vitellogenic stages in female Uta stansburiana.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Differences in d‐ROMs among vitellogenic stages in female Uta stansburiana.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Differences in reproductive investment among different vitellogenic stages in rural and urban sites in years with low precipitation and high precipitation. The circles and bars represent the means plus or minus 1 standard error.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Differences in body condition of female Uta stansburiana in years with high and low precipitation at urban and rural sites.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Differences in body condition of male Uta stansburiana in years with high and low precipitation at urban and rural sites.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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