Higher locomotor costs of pregnancy in viviparous compared to oviparous common lizards (Zootoca vivipara).

ABSTRACT: Pregnancy is a physiological cost of reproduction for animals that rely on fleeing to avoid predators. Costs of reproduction are predicted to differ between alternative reproductive strategies or modes, such as egg-laying (oviparity) or live-bearing (viviparity). However, disentangling the factors that comprise this cost and how it differs for oviparous or viviparous females is challenging due to myriad environmental, biological, and evolutionary confounds. Here, we tested the hypothesis that costs of pregnancy differ between oviparous and viviparous common lizards (Zootoca vivipara). We predicted that the degree of locomotor impairment during pregnancy and therefore the cost of reproduction would be higher in viviparous females. We conducted our experiment in a hybrid zone containi

SUBMITTER: Hussain R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11327608 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature