Ferguson Gary W, Talent Larry G
Department of Biology, Texas Christian University, 76129, Fort Worth, TX, USA.
Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, 74078-0459, Stillwater, OK, USA.
Oecologia. 1993 Feb;93(1):88-94. doi: 10.1007/BF00321196.
Hatchling Sceloporus undulatus elongatus from Washington Co., Utah and S. u. garmani from Woods Co., Oklahoma were raised to maturity and reproduction under identical laboratory conditions with ad libitum food availability. Growth, allometry, age and size of maturity, clutch size and egg mass were compared among lab-raised cohorts from the two populations, among lab-raised and field-caught animals (including their field-caught mothers) and, for growth, with values obtained by previously published field studies on the same or nearby populations. For all traits population differences observed in previous field studies and current field samples resulted from both a plastic response to proximate environmental conditions and intrinsic (possibly genetic) difference. The most plastic traits were growth and age of maturity. Cohorts from both populations expressed the ability to mature in less than 6 months in the laboratory but only the S.u. garmani express early maturity in the field. Allometric differences generated during growth in the lab were not observed in field samples but may reflect an adaptive physiological difference. The least plastic trait was egg mass. The only trait for which the rank order of the difference in the field was reversed in the lab was growth rate. S.u. elongatus grew significantly faster than S.u. garmani in the lab but much slower in the field. The tendency of S.u. garmani females to breed at minimum size of maturity may be greater than that of S.u. elongatus.
来自犹他州华盛顿县的细纹强棱蜥幼体和来自俄克拉荷马州伍兹县的加氏强棱蜥幼体在相同的实验室条件下饲养至成熟并繁殖，食物供应充足。对来自这两个种群的实验室饲养群体、实验室饲养动物和野外捕获动物（包括它们野外捕获的母亲）之间的生长、异速生长、成熟年龄和大小、窝卵数和卵质量进行了比较，并且就生长而言，还与之前发表的关于相同或附近种群的野外研究获得的值进行了比较。对于所有性状，之前野外研究和当前野外样本中观察到的种群差异是由对近期环境条件的可塑性反应和内在（可能是遗传）差异共同导致的。可塑性最强的性状是生长和成熟年龄。来自这两个种群的群体在实验室中都表现出在不到6个月内成熟的能力，但只有加氏强棱蜥在野外表现出早熟。在实验室生长过程中产生的异速生长差异在野外样本中未观察到，但可能反映了一种适应性生理差异。可塑性最小的性状是卵质量。在野外差异排名顺序在实验室中颠倒的唯一性状是生长速率。细纹强棱蜥在实验室中生长明显快于加氏强棱蜥，但在野外则慢得多。加氏强棱蜥雌性在最小成熟大小时繁殖的倾向可能大于细纹强棱蜥。
