Incubation conditions are critical in determining numerous traits in reptilian neonates. This is particularly significant in species with low offspring survival such as sea turtle species, because of the extremely high predation rates that hatchlings face during their initial dispersal from nesting beaches. Hatchlings that develop in suboptimal nest environments are likely to be smaller, slower and more susceptible to predation than hatchlings from optimal nest environments. Previous studies have focused on the effects of temperature on hatchling traits, but few have investigated the effects of moisture concentrations, despite moisture levels in nests influencing hatchling size, sex, incubation duration, and hatching success. Here, we incubated eggs of three sea turtle species at various moisture levels and tested the terrestrial and aquatic locomotor performance of the resultant hatchlings during the frenzy and post-frenzy period. We also compared and evaluated the ontogeny of early locomotor performance for each species over the first months of life. Drier incubation conditions produced hatchlings that crawled more slowly and took longer to self-right than hatchlings from wetter incubation conditions. There was no difference in swimming performance associated with moisture treatments. We suggest that moisture in the nest environment during incubation may influence hatchling performance via their initial hydration levels. Thus, nest moisture influences terrestrial performance (i.e., escaping from the nest and dispersing across the beach), although upon entering the ocean hatchlings have the opportunity to rehydrate by drinking and thus, differences in locomotor performance associated with moisture treatments cease.

中文翻译：

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海龟幼龟运动性能：孵化水分效应、个体发育和物种特异性模式

孵化条件对于确定爬行动物新生儿的众多特征至关重要。这对于后代存活率低的物种（例如海龟物种）尤其重要，因为幼龟在最初从筑巢海滩散布时会面临极高的捕食率。在次优巢穴环境中发育的幼体可能比来自最佳巢穴环境的幼体更小、更慢并且更容易被捕食。以前的研究集中在温度对孵化特性的影响上，但很少研究湿度浓度的影响，尽管巢中的水分含量会影响孵化大小、性别、孵化持续时间和孵化成功率。这里，我们在不同湿度水平下孵化了三种海龟的卵，并测试了所产生的幼龟在狂热期和狂热期后的陆地和水生运动性能。我们还比较和评估了每个物种在生命最初几个月的早期运动表现的个体发育。较干燥的孵化条件产生的幼龟比潮湿的孵化条件下的幼龟爬行更慢，需要更长的时间才能自我矫正。与水分处理相关的游泳表现没有差异。我们认为孵化期间巢穴环境中的水分可能会通过其初始水合水平影响孵化性能。因此，巢穴水分会影响陆地表现（即从巢穴逃逸并散布在海滩上），