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Data for: Ecologically relevant thermal fluctuations enhance offspring fitness: biological and methodological implications for studies of thermal developmental plasticity


Metadata FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributorJoshua Hall, halldevoeco@gmail.comen_US
dc.coverage.spatialSoutheastern United States of America (Alabama, Florida)en_US
dc.coverage.temporal06/01/2018 - 11/01/2018en_US
dc.creatorHall, Joshua M
dc.creatorWarner, Daniel A
dc.date.accessioned2020-08-03T21:44:30Z
dc.date.available2020-08-03T21:44:30Z
dc.date.created2020
dc.identifier.urihttps://aurora.auburn.edu/handle/11200/49920
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.35099/aurora-8
dc.description.abstractNatural thermal environments are notably complex and challenging to mimic in controlled studies. Consequently, our understanding of the ecological relevance and underlying mechanisms of organismal responses to thermal environments is often limited. For example, studies of thermal developmental plasticity have provided key insights into the ecological consequences of temperature variation, but most laboratory studies use treatments that do not reflect natural thermal regimes. While controlling other important factors, we compared the effects of naturally fluctuating temperatures to commonly used laboratory regimes on development of lizard embryos and offspring phenotypes and survival. We incubated eggs in 4 treatments – 3 that followed procedures commonly used in the literature, and one that precisely mimicked naturally fluctuating nest temperatures. To explore context-dependent effects, we replicated these treatments across two seasonal regimes: relatively cool temperatures from nests constructed early in the season and warm temperatures from late-season nests. We show that natural thermal fluctuations have a relatively small effect on developmental variables but enhance hatchling performance and survival at cooler temperatures. Thus, natural thermal fluctuations are important for successful development and simpler approximations (e.g. repeated sine waves, constant temperatures) may poorly reflect natural systems under some conditions. Thus, the benefits of precisely replicating real-world temperatures in controlled studies may outweigh logistical costs. Although patterns might vary according to study system and research goals, our methodological approach demonstrates the importance of incorporating natural variation into controlled studies and provides biologists interested in thermal ecology with a framework for validating the effectiveness of commonly used methods.en_US
dc.formatcsven_US
dc.format.extent81.3 kben_US
dc.publisherThe Company of Biologistsen_US
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of Experimental Biologyen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries1477-9145en_US
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.231902
dc.subjectSeasonalityen_US
dc.subjectnest temperaturesen_US
dc.subjectphenotypeen_US
dc.subjectreptile developmental plasticityen_US
dc.subjectegg incubationen_US
dc.titleData for: Ecologically relevant thermal fluctuations enhance offspring fitness: biological and methodological implications for studies of thermal developmental plasticityen_US
dc.typeDataseten_US
dc.type.genreDataseten_US
dc.description.statusPublisheden_US
dc.description.peerreviewYesen_US
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-5587-3402en_US

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