The developmental environment plays a pivotal role in shaping fitness-relevant phenotypes of all organisms. Phenotypes are highly labile during embryogenesis, and environmental factors experienced early in development can have profound effects on fitness-relevant traits throughout life. Many reptiles exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), whereby temperature during embryonic development permanently determines offspring sex. The leading hypothesis for the adaptive significance of TSD posits that egg incubation temperature differentially affects the fitness of males vs. females so that each sex is produced at its optimal temperature. The goal of this research is to address this hypothesis by quantifying the sex-specific effects of incubation temperature on phenotypes and survival in a lizard (Agama picticauda) with TSD. By incubating eggs under constant and fluctuating temperatures, we demonstrated that incubation temperature affects fitness-relevant phenotypes in A. picticauda; but males and females had similar reaction norms. However, females produced from female-biased incubation temperatures had greater survival than those from male-biased temperatures, and male survival was lowest for individuals produced from a female-biased temperature. In addition, eggs incubated at male-biased temperatures hatched earlier than those incubated at female-biased temperatures, which may have sex-specific consequences later in life as predicted by models for the adaptive significance of TSD.

中文翻译：

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取决于温度的性别决定性发育温度对蜥蜴后代形态，生长和存活的性别特异性影响

发育环境在塑造所有生物的适应性相关表型中起着关键作用。表型在胚胎发生过程中非常不稳定，并且在发育早期经历的环境因素可能会对一生中与健身相关的性状产生深远影响。许多爬行动物表现出温度依赖性性别决定（TSD），从而胚胎发育过程中的温度永久性地决定了后代的性别。TSD适应性意义的主要假设是，卵的孵化温度会不同程度地影响雄性和雌性的适应性，因此每种性别都在其最佳温度下产生。这项研究的目的是通过量化孵化温度对蜥蜴的表型和存活的性别特异性影响来解决这一假设（Agama picticauda）与TSD。通过在恒定且波动的温度下孵化卵，我们证明了孵化温度影响A. picticauda中与健身相关的表型。但是男性和女性的反应规范相似。但是，由女性偏爱的温育温度产生的雌性比由男性偏爱的温育温度产生的雌性具有更大的存活率，并且对于由女性偏爱的温育温度产生的个体，雄性存活率最低。另外，在雄性偏置温度下孵化的卵要比在雌性偏置温度下孵化的卵早孵化，这可能会在生命的后期产生具有性别特异性的后果，正如模型对TSD的适应性意义所预测的那样。