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- Title
Incubation of rigid-shelled turtle eggs: do hydric conditions matter?
- Authors
Booth, D. T.
- Abstract
Rigid-shelled eggs of the broad-shelled river turtle Chelodina expansa were incubated at 28 °C in wet (–100 kPa), intermediate (–350 kPa) and dry (–750 kPa) conditions. Incubation period was influenced by clutch of origin, but was independent of incubation water potential. Rates of water gained from the environment and pre-pipping egg mass were influenced by incubation water potential – eggs incubating at higher (less negative) water potentials absorbing more water from their environment. Hatchlings from wet conditions had greater mass but a smaller amount of residual yolk than hatchlings from dry conditions and it is suggested that the amount of yolk converted to tissue is influenced by the amount of water absorbed by the egg during incubation. Water content of yolk-free hatchlings from the –100-kPa treatment was greater than those from the –350-kPa and –750-kPa treatments, but the water content of residual yolks was similar across all hydric conditions.
- Subjects
TURTLES; EGG incubation; CHELODINA; HATCHABILITY of eggs; REPTILES; CHELIDAE
- Publication
Journal of Comparative Physiology B: Biochemical, Systemic & Environmental Physiology, 2002, Vol 172, Issue 7, p627
- ISSN
0174-1578
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00360-002-0291-y