Open AccessSome like it dry: Water restriction overrides heterogametic sex determination in two reptiles
Author(s) -
Dupoué Andréaz,
Lourdais Olivier,
Meylan Sandrine,
Brischoux François,
Angelier Frédéric,
RozenRechels David,
Marcangeli Yoan,
Decencière Béatriz,
Agostini Simon,
Le Galliard JeanFrançois
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.5229
Subject(s) - heterogametic sex , biology , ectotherm , offspring , sex ratio , population , evolutionary biology , zoology , genetics , demography , pregnancy , chromosome , sociology , gene
The evolution of sex determination is complex and yet crucial in our understanding of population stability. In ectotherms, sex determination involves a variety of mechanisms including genetic determination (GSD), environment determination (ESD), but also interactions between the two via sex reversal. In this study, we investigated whether water deprivation during pregnancy could override GSD in two heterogametic squamate reptiles. We demonstrated that water restriction in early gestation induced a male-biased secondary sex ratio in both species, which could be explained by water sex reversal as the more likely mechanism. We further monitored some long-term fitness estimates of offspring, which suggested that water sex determination (WSD) represented a compensatory strategy producing the rarest sex according to Fisher's assumptions of frequency-dependent selection models. This study provides new insights into sex determination modes and calls for a general investigation of mechanisms behind WSD and to examine the evolutionary implications.