Dezetter Mathias, Le Galliard Jean François, Guiller Gaëtan, Guillon Michaël, Leroux-Coyau Mathieu, Meylan Sandrine, Brischoux François, Angelier Fréderic, Lourdais Olivier
Sorbonne University, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Institut d'Écologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement (iEES Paris), 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 5, France.
Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé CNRS, UMR 7372, 79360 Villiers en Bois, France.
Conserv Physiol. 2021 Sep 3;9(1):coab071. doi: 10.1093/conphys/coab071. eCollection 2021.
Droughts are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. These extreme weather events can lead to mass mortality and reproduction failure, and therefore cause population declines. Understanding how the reproductive physiology of organisms is affected by water shortages will help clarify whether females can adjust their reproductive strategy to dry conditions or may fail to reproduce and survive. In this study, we investigated the consequences of a short period of water deprivation (2 weeks) during early pregnancy on the physiology and behaviour of a cold- and wet-adapted ectotherm (). We also examined water allocation to developing embryos and embryonic survival. Water-deprived females exhibited significant dehydration, physiological stress and loss of muscle mass. These effects of water deprivation on water balance and muscle loss were correlated with the number of developing embryos. While water-deprived females maintained water transfer to embryos at the expense of their own maintenance, water deprivation also led to embryonic mortality. Overall, water deprivation amplifies the reproductive costs of water allocation to support embryonic development. The deleterious impacts of water deprivation on female current reproductive performance and on potential survival and future reproduction could lead to severe population declines in this species.
随着气候变化，干旱正变得愈发强烈和频繁。这些极端天气事件可导致大规模死亡和繁殖失败，进而致使种群数量下降。了解生物体的生殖生理如何受到缺水影响，将有助于阐明雌性是否能够调整其生殖策略以适应干旱条件，或者是否可能无法繁殖并存活。在本研究中，我们调查了妊娠早期短期缺水（2周）对一种适应寒冷潮湿环境的变温动物的生理和行为的影响。我们还研究了向发育中的胚胎的水分分配以及胚胎存活率。缺水的雌性表现出明显的脱水、生理应激和肌肉量损失。缺水对水分平衡和肌肉损失的这些影响与发育中胚胎的数量相关。虽然缺水的雌性以自身维持为代价维持向胚胎的水分转移，但缺水也导致胚胎死亡。总体而言，缺水加剧了为支持胚胎发育而进行水分分配的生殖成本。缺水对雌性当前生殖性能以及潜在存活和未来繁殖的有害影响，可能导致该物种的种群数量严重下降。
