Mechanisms Determining Body Size and Shape Difference in Algerian Spur-Thighed Tortoises (Testudo graeca)

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62157124%3A16270%2F22%3A43880028" target="_blank" >RIV/62157124:16270/22:43880028 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/62157124:16810/22:43880028

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/10/1330" target="_blank" >https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/10/1330</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12101330" target="_blank" >10.3390/ani12101330</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Mechanisms Determining Body Size and Shape Difference in Algerian Spur-Thighed Tortoises (Testudo graeca)

Original language description

Simple Summary Assessing the body size and body shape variations between sexes and geographical populations can help us understand the adaptive responses of organisms in the face of the pressures to which they are subjected. To evaluate the influence of habitat-type conditions, we selected six Algerian populations of Testudo graeca living in different environments. The results of the traditional morphometric analyses showed that body size and shell shape were smaller and flattened, respectively, in males, especially under unfavorable conditions for tortoises; these changes were jointly caused by anthropogenic and natural pressures. We found clear evidence in several tortoise species that differences in growth durations up to the onset of maturity resulted primarily in different sizes at maturity and ultimately in different adult sizes. Using data for the body size and shell shape of Algerian Testudo graeca, we assessed how proximate causes shaped the observed variation in the morphology of adults. All of the studied populations displayed significant sexual size and shape dimorphisms. Relative to body length, females displayed larger, more voluminous and domed shells than males. We found clear evidence that variation in body size at maturity influenced sexual size dimorphism. Body size at maturity depends on the duration of growth from hatching up to the point of reaching sexual maturity. In the studied populations, sexual maturity, estimated by counting growth lines, was always reached earlier in males than in females (a time difference of 1.4-3.0 years). Similar to sexual size dimorphism, geographic variation in adult body sizes was also influenced by variations in the corresponding sizes at maturity. Remarkably, the population with the largest tortoises had the latest mean maturation time: 9.1 for males and 10.5 for females. Thus, the later completion of maturation was a determinant for a larger size in adulthood. The largest tortoises among the studied populations were measured at the Djelfa locality, where the recorded sizes of males and females reached 186 and 230 mm, respectively.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10613 - Zoology

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Animals

ISSN

2076-2615

e-ISSN

2076-2615

Volume of the periodical

12

Issue of the periodical within the volume

10

Country of publishing house

CH - SWITZERLAND

Number of pages

21

Pages from-to

nestrankovano

UT code for WoS article

000802681500001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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