Determinants of reproductive success and offspring sex in a turtle with environmental sex determination

J. S. Doody, A. Georges and J. E. Young
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, London, 80, 81, 1-16,
Despite the importance of maternal effects in evolution, and knowledge of links among nest site choice, timing of nesting, offspring sex, and reproductive success in animals with environmental sex determination, these attributes have not been rigorously studied in a combined and natural context. To address this need we studied the relationships between three maternal traits (nest site choice, lay date, and nest depth) and two fitness-related attributes of offspring (hatchling sex and embryonic survival) in the riverine turtle Carettochelys insculpta, a species with temperature-dependent sex determination, for four years.
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