Incubation temperature alters stripe formation and head colouration in American alligator hatchlings and is unaffected by estradiol-induced sex reversal

Rogerson, Grace; Bock, Samantha; Loera, Yeraldi; Parrott, Benjamin; Mulley, John F.

doi:10.1242/jeb.245219

Incubation temperature alters stripe formation and head colouration in American alligator hatchlings and is unaffected by estradiol-induced sex reversal

Journal Article · Fri Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Journal of Experimental Biology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.245219· OSTI ID:1967542

Rogerson, Grace; ; ; ;

ABSTRACT

Considerations of the impact climate change has on reptiles are typically focused on habitat change or loss, range shifts and skewed sex ratios in species with temperature-dependent sex determination. Here, we show that incubation temperature alters stripe number and head colouration of hatchling American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Animals incubated at higher temperatures (33.5°C) had, on average, one more stripe than those at lower temperatures (29.5°C), and also had significantly lighter heads. These patterns were not affected by estradiol-induced sex reversal, suggesting independence from hatchling sex. Therefore, increases in nest temperatures as a result of climate change have the potential to alter pigmentation patterning, which may have implications for offspring fitness.

View Journal Article

Research Organization:: Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Grant/Contract Number:: EM0004391

OSTI ID:: 1967542

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2417830
OSTI ID: 1959399

Journal Information:: Journal of Experimental Biology, Journal Name: Journal of Experimental Biology Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 226; ISSN 0022-0949

Publisher:: The Company of BiologistsCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

References (36)

Why do larger mothers produce larger offspring? A test of classic theory Cameron, Hayley; Monro, Keyne; Malerba, Martino Ecology, Vol. 97, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1590	journal	December 2016
Effects of incubation temperature on growth and development of embryos ofAlligator mississippiensis Deeming, D. C.; Ferguson, M. W. J. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, Vol. 159, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691739	journal	January 1989
Incubation environment and parental identity affect sea turtle development and hatchling phenotype Tezak, Boris; Bentley, Blair; Arena, Mikaela Oecologia, Vol. 192, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04643-7	journal	April 2020
Sex reversal by estradiol in three reptilian orders Bull, J. J.; Gutzke, W. H. N.; Crews, D. General and Comparative Endocrinology, Vol. 70, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-6480(88)90117-7	journal	June 1988
Positional information and the spatial pattern of cellular differentiation Wolpert, L. Journal of Theoretical Biology, Vol. 25, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5193(69)80016-0	journal	October 1969
The effects of incubation thermal environments on size, locomotor performance and early growth of hatchling soft-shelled turtles, Pelodiscus sinensis Du, Wei-Guo; Ji, Xiang Journal of Thermal Biology, Vol. 28, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4565(03)00003-2	journal	May 2003
Tail bud determination in the vertebrate embryo Tucker, Abigail S.; Slack, Jonathan M. W. Current Biology, Vol. 5, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(95)00158-8	journal	July 1995
The conservation status of the world’s reptiles Böhm, Monika; Collen, Ben; Baillie, Jonathan E. M. Biological Conservation, Vol. 157 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2012.07.015	journal	January 2013
Environmental Warming and Feminization of One of the Largest Sea Turtle Populations in the World Jensen, Michael P.; Allen, Camryn D.; Eguchi, Tomoharu Current Biology, Vol. 28, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.11.057	journal	January 2018
Thermal melanism in ectotherms Clusella Trullas, Susana; van Wyk, Johannes H.; Spotila, James R. Journal of Thermal Biology, Vol. 32, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2007.01.013	journal	July 2007
Coloration affects heating and cooling in three color morphs of the Australian bluetongue lizard, Tiliqua scincoides Geen, Michael R. S.; Johnston, Gregory R. Journal of Thermal Biology, Vol. 43 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2014.04.004	journal	July 2014
Stripes and belly-spots—A review of pigment cell morphogenesis in vertebrates Kelsh, Robert N.; Harris, Melissa L.; Colanesi, Sarah Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, Vol. 20, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2008.10.001	journal	February 2009
Redefining the head–trunk interface for the neural crest Ferguson, Christine A.; Graham, Anthony Developmental Biology, Vol. 269, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.01.013	journal	May 2004
Development and evolution of the neural crest: An overview Bronner, Marianne E.; LeDouarin, Nicole M. Developmental Biology, Vol. 366, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.12.042	journal	June 2012
The neural crest and evolution of the head/trunk interface in vertebrates Kuratani, Shigeru; Kusakabe, Rie; Hirasawa, Tatsuya Developmental Biology, Vol. 444 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.01.017	journal	December 2018
Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis Schindelin, Johannes; Arganda-Carreras, Ignacio; Frise, Erwin Nature Methods, Vol. 9, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2019	journal	June 2012
A global reptile assessment highlights shared conservation needs of tetrapods Cox, Neil; Young, Bruce E.; Bowles, Philip Nature, Vol. 605, Issue 7909 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04664-7	journal	April 2022
Thermal melanism explains macroevolutionary variation of dorsal pigmentation in Eurasian vipers Martínez-Freiría, Fernando; Toyama, Ken S.; Freitas, Inês Scientific Reports, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72871-1	journal	September 2020
Spatial and temporal variation in nest temperatures forecasts sex ratio skews in a crocodilian with environmental sex determination Bock, Samantha L.; Lowers, Russell H.; Rainwater, Thomas R. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 287, Issue 1926 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0210	journal	April 2020
Are all eggs created equal? Food availability and the fitness trade‐off between reproduction and immunity Stahlschmidt, Zachary R.; Rollinson, Njal; Acker, Madison Functional Ecology, Vol. 27, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12071	journal	February 2013
The lizardPsammodromus algirus(Squamata: Lacertidae) is darker at high altitudes Reguera, Senda; Zamora-Camacho, Francisco J.; Moreno-Rueda, Gregorio Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 112, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1111/bij.12250	journal	April 2014
Reproductive success and risk of predation in normal and melanistic colour morphs of the adder, Vipera berus AndrÉN, Claes; Nilson, GÖRan Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 15, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1981.tb00761.x	journal	May 1981
Incubation temperature affects development order of morphological features and staging criteria in turtle embryos Dormer, J.; Old, J. M.; Van Dyke, J. U. Journal of Zoology, Vol. 299, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12346	journal	April 2016
Intrinsic and extrinsic factors interact during development to influence telomere length in a long‐lived reptile Bae, Junsoo; Bertucci, Emily M.; Bock, Samantha L. Molecular Ecology https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16017	journal	June 2021
Is There Life After Climate Change? Roberts, Leslie Science, Vol. 242, Issue 4881 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.242.4881.1010	journal	November 1988
Estrogen Receptor 1 (ESR1; ERα), not ESR2 (ERβ), Modulates Estrogen-Induced Sex Reversal in the American Alligator, a Species With Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination Kohno, Satomi; Bernhard, Melissa C.; Katsu, Yoshinao Endocrinology, Vol. 156, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2014-1852	journal	February 2015
Tail formation as a continuation of gastrulation: the multiple cell populations of the Xenopus tailbud derive from the late blastopore lip Gont, Linda K.; Steinbeisser, Herbert; Blumberg, Bruce Development, Vol. 119, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.119.4.991	journal	December 1993
Understanding axial progenitor biology in vivo and in vitro Wymeersch, Filip J.; Wilson, Valerie; Tsakiridis, Anestis Development, Vol. 148, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.180612	journal	February 2021
From head to tail: regionalization of the neural crest Rocha, Manuel; Beiriger, Anastasia; Kushkowski, Elaine E. Development, Vol. 147, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.193888	journal	October 2020
Incubation history prior to the canonical thermosensitive period determines sex in the American alligator McCoy, Jessica A.; Parrott, Benjamin B.; Rainwater, Thomas R. REPRODUCTION, Vol. 150, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1530/REP-15-0155	journal	October 2015
The Global Decline of Reptiles, Déjà Vu Amphibians Gibbon, J. Whitfield; Scott, David E.; Ryan, Travis J. BioScience, Vol. 50, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050[0653:TGDORD]2.0.CO;2	journal	January 2000
The Role of Predation in Shaping Crocodilian Natural History Somaweera, Ruchira; Brien, Matthew; Shine, Richard Herpetological Monographs, Vol. 27, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1655/HERPMONOGRAPHS-D-11-00001	journal	December 2013
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4 Bates, Douglas; Mächler, Martin; Bolker, Ben Journal of Statistical Software, Vol. 67, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01	journal	January 2015
lmerTest Package: Tests in Linear Mixed Effects Models Kuznetsova, Alexandra; Brockhoff, Per B.; Christensen, Rune H. B. Journal of Statistical Software, Vol. 82, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v082.i13	journal	January 2017
Thermal benefits of melanism in cordylid lizards: a theoretical and field test Clusella-Trullas, Susana; Wyk, Johannes Hvan; Spotila, James R. Ecology, Vol. 90, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1502.1	journal	August 2009
Morphological Variation in Hatchling American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) from Three Florida Lakes Milnes, Matthew R.; Woodward, Allan R.; Jr., Louis J. Guillette Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 35, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.2307/1566117	journal	June 2001

Similar Records

Genome-wide DNA methylation patterns harbour signatures of hatchling sex and past incubation temperature in a species with environmental sex determination

Journal Article · Mon Aug 22 20:00:00 EDT 2022 · Molecular Ecology · OSTI ID:2417843

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
Alligators
Climate change
Incubation temperature
Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
Sex reversal
Stripe formation
Temperature-dependent sex determination

Incubation temperature alters stripe formation and head colouration in American alligator hatchlings and is unaffected by estradiol-induced sex reversal

Citation Formats

References (36)

Similar Records

Related Subjects