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The other experimental challenge was to artificially produce the "wrong" sex at a given temperature. Shine says female Jacky dragons are produced from eggs incubated at low (23°C-26°C) and high (30°C-33°C) temperatures whereas males are produced at intermediate temperatures. In their Australian Research Council-funded study the researchers hormonally manipulated eggs to produce males and females at temperatures at which they would not normally be produced. The hormonal manipulation of the eggs had no effect on the health and survival of individual hatchling Jacky dragons. But the natural males were five to 10 times better in terms of mating and producing offspring, while the natural females produced four to five times more offspring, says Shine. "Thus reproductive success of each sex was optimized by the incubation temperature that produces that sex in nature as predicted by the [Charnov-Bull] model," the researchers said. Shine says he is "astounded" at how "beautifully" his team's data matches the Charnov-Bull model. He has received an email from a "delighted" Bull congratulating him on proving the theory.
Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal |
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