Authors:	Hallmann, Konstantin Griebeler, Eva Maria
Title:	An exploration of differences in the scaling of life history traits with body mass within reptiles and between amniotes
Online publication date:	22-Oct-2018
Year of first publication:	2018
Language:	english
Abstract:	Abstract Allometric relationships linking species characteristics to body size or mass (scaling) are important in biology. However, studies on the scaling of life history traits in the reptiles (the nonavian Reptilia) are rather scarce, especially for the clades Crocodilia, Testudines, and Rhynchocephalia (single extant species, the tuatara). Previous studies on the scaling of reptilian life history traits indicated that they differ from those seen in the other amniotes (mammals and birds), but so far most comparative studies used small species samples and also not phylogenetically informed analyses. Here, we analyzed the scaling of nine life history traits with adult body mass for crocodiles (n = 22), squamates (n = 294), turtles (n = 52), and reptiles (n = 369). We used for the first time a phylogenetically informed approach for crocodiles, turtles, and the whole group of reptiles. We explored differences in scaling relationships between the reptilian clades Crocodilia, Squamata, and Testudines as well as differences between reptiles, mammals, and birds. Finally, we applied our scaling relationships, in order to gain new insights into the degree of the exceptionality of the tuatara's life history within reptiles. We observed for none of the life history traits studied any difference in their scaling with body mass between squamates, crocodiles, and turtles, except for clutch size and egg weight showing small differences between these groups. Compared to birds and mammals, scaling relationships of reptiles were similar for time-related traits, but they differed for reproductive traits. The tuatara's life history is more similar to that of a similar-sized turtle or crocodile than to a squamate.
DDC:	570 Biowissenschaften 570 Life sciences
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 10 Biologie
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-295
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	Ecology and evolution 8 11
Pages or article number:	5480 5494
Publisher:	John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Publisher place:	S.l.
Issue date:	2018
ISSN:	2045-7758
Publisher URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4069
Publisher DOI:	10.1002/ece3.4069
Appears in collections:	JGU-Publikationen