Maternal exposure to predator scents: offspring phenotypic adjustment and dispersal.

ABSTRACT: Predation is a strong selective pressure generating morphological, physiological and behavioural responses in organisms. As predation risk is often higher during juvenile stages, antipredator defences expressed early in life are paramount to survival. Maternal effects are an efficient pathway to produce such defences. We investigated whether maternal exposure to predator cues during gestation affected juvenile morphology, behaviour and dispersal in common lizards (Zootoca vivipara). We exposed 21 gravid females to saurophagous snake cues for one month while 21 females remained unexposed (i.e. control). We measured body size, preferred temperature and activity level for each neonate, and released them into semi-natural enclosures connected to corridors in order to measure dispersal. Offspri

SUBMITTER: Bestion E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4150312 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature