Geographic variation of body size and reproductive patterns in Continental versus Mediterranean asp vipers, Vipera aspis
نویسندگان
چکیده
Museo di Storia Naturale e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, via Roma 79, I-56011 Calci (Pisa), Italy Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Università di Pavia, p.za Botta 9, I-27100 Pavia, Italy Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS, F-79360 Villiers en Bois, France FIZV (Ecology), via Olona 7, I-00198 Rome, Italy Dipartimento di Biologia (Unità di ProtistologiaZoologia), Università di Pisa, via Volta 6, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
منابع مشابه
Fat is sexy for females but not males: the influence of body reserves on reproduction in snakes (Vipera aspis).
Reproduction is energetically expensive for both sexes, but the magnitude of expenditure and its relationship to reproductive success differ fundamentally between males and females. Males allocate relatively little to gamete production and, thus, can reproduce successfully with only minor energy investment. In contrast, females of many species experience high fecundity-independent costs of repr...
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Previous experimental data suggested that digestion and growth rates are not impaired under cool constant temperature (23°C) in a viviparous snake (Vipera aspis). These results challenged the widespread notion that both elevated temperatures (e.g. 30°C) and temperature fluctuations are required for digestion and growth in temperate climate reptiles. Here, we investigated the impact of constant ...
متن کاملReproduction in a Typical Capital Breeder: Costs, Currencies, and Complications in the Aspic Viper
Female aspic vipers (Vipera aspis) are ‘‘capital breeders,’’ and delay reproduction until they have amassed large energy reserves. Data from an eight-year mark– recapture study on free-ranging vipers suggest that potential costs of reproduction were high for these animals, in terms of survival as well as growth and energy storage. Females that reproduced experienced higher mortality rates than ...
متن کاملFat Is Sexy for Females but Not Males: The Influence of Body Reserves on Reprod
Reproduction is energetically expensive for both sexes, but the magnitude of expenditure and its relationship to reproductive success differ fundamentally between males and females. Males allocate relatively little to gamete production and, thus, can reproduce successfully with only minor energy investment. In contrast, females of many species experience high fecundity-independent costs of repr...
متن کاملCosts of anorexia during pregnancy in a viviparous snake (Vipera aspis).
Spontaneous anorexia has been documented in various animal species and is usually associated with activities competing with food intake. In natural conditions, most female aspic vipers (Vipera aspis) stop feeding during the two months of pregnancy. We carried out a simple experiment on 40 pregnant females to determine whether anorexia was obligatory or facultative, and to investigate the energe...
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