Egg components, egg size, and hatchling size in leatherback turtles

2006 ◽  
Vol 145 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan P. Wallace ◽  
Paul R. Sotherland ◽  
Pilar Santidrian Tomillo ◽  
Sarah S. Bouchard ◽  
Richard D. Reina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Leatherback Turtles ◽  
Egg Components ◽  
Hatchling Size

scholarly journals Egg size does not universally predict embryonic resources and hatchling size across annual killifish species

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Vrtílek ◽  
Tom J. M. Van Dooren ◽  
Mégane Beaudard
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Offspring Performance ◽  
Annual Killifish ◽  
Triglyceride Content ◽  
Population Survival ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Egg Components ◽  
Hatchling Size

AbstractEgg size has a crucial impact on the reproductive success of a mother and the performance of her offspring. It is therefore reasonable to employ egg size as a proxy for egg content when studying variation in offspring performance. Here, we tested species differences in allometries of several egg content parameters with egg area. We measured individual eggs in five species of annual killifish (Cyprinodontiformes), a group of fish where egg banks permit population survival over dry season. Apart from comparing allometric scaling exponents, amounts and compositions of egg components across the different species, we assessed the explanatory power of egg area for egg wet and dry weight and for hatchling size. We found notable species-specific allometries between egg area and the other egg parameters (egg dry weight and water content, elemental composition and triglyceride content). Across species, egg area predicted egg wet weight with highest power. Within species, coefficients of determination were largest in Austrolebias elongatus, a large piscivorous species with large eggs. Our study shows that systematically using egg area as a proxy of egg content between different species can ignore relevant species-specific differences and mask within-species variability in egg content.

Effects of Predation and Trophic Conditions on the Reproduction of Tylototriton verrucosus (Caudata: Salamandridae) in Darjeeling

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritwik Dasgupta
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Zooplankton Abundance ◽  
Trophic Conditions ◽  
Size Frequency Distribution ◽  
Size Frequency ◽  
High Predation ◽  
Hatchling Size ◽  
Predation Rates

The facts that small hatchlings emerged from small eggs laid under high predation levels prevailing at the lower altitudes of distribution of this species in Darjeeling while larger hatchlings emerged from larger eggs laid under lower levels of predation at higher altitudes, show that predation is not selected for large egg and initial hatchling size in this salamandrid species. Metamorphic size was small under high predation rates because this species relied on crypsis for evading predators. Egg and hatchling size are related inversely to levels of primary productivity and zooplankton abundance in lentic habitats. Hatchling sizes are related positively to egg size and size frequency distribution of zooplankton. Small egg and small hatchling size have been selected for at the lower altitudes of distribution of this salamandrid in Darjeeling because predation rates increased in step with improvement in trophic conditions at the lower altitudes.

Egg Size and Egg Quality

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Egg Quality ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Optimum Size ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Mate Quality ◽  
Good Proxy ◽  
Egg Components

This chapter deals with variations in egg size and egg quality. Egg size is a highly variable life-history trait, with up to twofold differences in egg mass among individual females within a population. Larger eggs contain absolutely more major egg components (shell, albumen, yolk) and absolutely more of several minor egg components (maternally derived antibodies and antioxidants), and, in this regard, egg size is a good proxy for egg quality. Many studies assume that high-quality females produce large, high-quality eggs, but it is equally plausible that individual females produce eggs of the optimum size and quality for their phenotype or genotype. Either way, the aspects of a female's phenotype that would determine maximum or optimum egg size are unknown, although these are not primarily factors such as age, experience, body condition, or mate quality that continue to be the focus of much current work.

Relationships between rainfall, nesting habitat and fecundity of Caiman crocodilus yacare in the Pantanal, Brazil

1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilca Campos ◽  
William Magnusson
Keyword(s):  
Clutch Size ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Female Size ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Nesting Habitat ◽  
Caiman Crocodilus ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Intermittent Rivers ◽  
Hatchling Size

ABSTRACTDifferences in rainfall between years influenced the proportions of different types of nesting habitats of Caiman crocodilus yacare available near water bodies in a region of intermittent rivers (Campo Dora Ranch). In contrast, rainfall had little effect on the proximity of nesting habitat to water bodies in a region of isolated lakes (Nhumirim Ranch). There was a strong positive correlation between female body size and clutch size Snout-vent lengths of females on Campo Dora Ranch were significantly larger than those from Nhumirim Ranch which probably accounts for the larger mean clutch size than in the region of isolated lakes. Hatchling size was correlated with egg size, but there was no relationship between egg size and female size or egg size and clutch size.

Offspring size variation in a hybrid zone of Australian frogs (Geocrinia laevis complex, Myobatrachinae)

1994 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günter Gollmann ◽  
Birgit Gollmann
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Zone ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Parental Species ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
True Hybrid ◽  
Genetic Characters ◽  
Hatchling Size

AbstractTo describe variation in size of offspring across a hybrid zone between the myobatrachine frogs Geocrinia laevis and Geocrinia victoriana, the sizes of tadpoles hatching from egg masses collected in the field were measured. Hatchling size was strongly correlated with diameter of the blastula or gastrula (referred to here as "egg size"). Geocrinia victoriana had bigger offspring than G. laevis. Hybrids were generally intermediate between the two parental species in offspring size. However, the variation in size across the hybrid zone did not show a smooth cline or a distinct step coinciding with any of the sharp transitions found for behavioural or genetic characters. Variation within hybrid populations was not greater than in "pure" samples of the two species; these data correspond to findings of other studies which showed that this contact between G. laevis and G. victoriana is a "true hybrid zone" with panmictic local populations, not an overlap of the two species.

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