Patterns of Growth and Sexual Size Dimorphism in Two Species of Box Turtles with Environmental Sex Determination

• Published in: Oecologia Vol. 115; no. 4; pp. 501 - 507
• Main Author: St Clair, Robert C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Springer-Verlag 01.07.1998; Springer
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Animal and plant ecology; Animal reproduction; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Female animals; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Male animals; Mating behavior; Population Ecology; Reptilia. Amphibia; Sex determination; Sexual reproduction; Terrapene; Turtles; Vertebrata; Growth; Environmental factor; Sexual reproduction; Sexual maturation; Vertebrata; Chelonia; Sex determination; Body size; Reptilia; Sexual dimorphism; Growth striation; Age; Adaptation; Turtles; Terrapene; Environmental sex determination; Key words Sexual size dimorphism

An adaptive explanation for environmental sex determination is that it promotes sexual size dimorphism when larger size benefits one sex more than the other. That is, if growth rates are determined by environment during development, then it is beneficial to match developmental environment to the sex...