Sex Ratio and Sexual Size Dimorphism in a Toad-headed Lizard,Phrynocephalus guinanensis

1. Introduction

Life history characteristics are associated with growth,reproduction, and survivorship that can affect the life table of an organism, which were thought to be strongly influenced by natural selection (Fox et al., 2001; Roff,1992). Only populations with adaptive life history can survive, reproduce and evolve in an unstable environment(Stearns, 1992). Recently, there have been multiple ecological research about life history characteristics,which includes body size and growth pattern, sex ratio,age-specific survivorship (i.e., Galliard et al., 2005;Molinazuluaga et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2005; Zhao and Liu, 2014).

Sex ratio is an important topic in population demographic studies (Caswell, 2001; Jirotkul, 1999;Kvarnemo and Ahnesjo, 1996). Fluctuations in sex ratio are regulated (Pettersson et al., 2004), and mainly influenced by intrasexual competition and sex-specific mortality or emigration in a population (Cluttonbrock et al., 2002; Wolff et al., 2002). Sex-specific mortality is also likely to result from different predator preference on males or females (Johnston, 2011; Stuart-Fox et al., 2003). Males generally expend more energy in displaying and fighting during the breeding season, which leads to increased mortality due to injury and greater exposure to predation (Christe et al., 2006; Owensmith,1993). In addition, females likely invest more energy in reproduction than males which could lead to higher female mortality (Schwarzkopf and Shine, 1992).

综上所述，不论是比表面积的测试还是吸光度的测试，硅胶与硅酸盐复合吸附剂材料的性能是最好的，其次便是硅胶。经过一系列的测试可以得出硅酸盐及其复合材料吸附剂具有良好的吸附性能。

Sexual dimorphism is frequently illustrated as sexual difference in body size, body shape and coloration(Bonnet et al., 1998; Parker, 1992; Pinto et al., 2005),and generally driven by sexual selection and natural selection (Cooper and Vitt, 1989; Ji et al., 1997). Sexual selection is generally determined by intensity of male-male competition and female mate choice (Anderson,1994), while natural selection is mainly associated with sex-specific growth rate, survivorship, life span, feeding divergence and different partitioning of energy for growth(Berry and Shine, 1980; Cooper and Vitt, 1989; Cox et al., 2006; Haenel and John-Alder, 2002; Johnston,2011; Powell and Russell, 1985; Stamps, 1993). Recently,SSD is viewed as a developmental process, and the proximate mechanisms of SSD have been determined in some lizards from an ontogenetic perspective (Cox et al., 2006; Cox et al., 2009; John-Alder et al., 2007;Johnston, 2011). The SSD is likely caused by different ecological conditions for males and females during the developmental process (Cox et al., 2009). Hence comparison of development pattern in both sexes is a critical necessary step to clarify the different pressures responsible for SSD.

The toad-headed lizard, Phrynocephalus guinanensis was named recently based on its morphological differences (Ji et al., 2009). This species is restricted to small areas of sand dunes in Guinan County, Qinghai Province (Jin et al., 2014), which is largely different to other Phrynocephalus species in China and middle Asian countries. It is sexually dimorphic in abdominal coloration and showed SSD in tail, head and limbs (Ji et al., 2009). Nonetheless, our knowledge on population ecology of the species is very lack (Jin et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017). This study conducted three years’ markrecapture investigation and studied the survivorship, sex ratio, growth rate and the ontogenetic development of SSD in P. guinanensis.

2. Materials and Methods

The growth rates of TL (F1,20 = 4.522, P = 0.0491),HW (F1,20 = 8.610, P = 0.010), AL (F1,20 = 9.282, P =0.008) and AW (F1,20 = 5.609, P = 0.030) in the age group from hatchling to juvenile were significant larger than the age group from juvenile to adult in females, although no difference was found in other measurements between age group (HL: F1,20 = 0.581, P = 0.457; FLL: F1,20 = 0.202,P = 0.659; HLL: F1,20 = 0.980, P = 0.337; DBA: F1,20 =0.368, P = 0.553; DBI: F1,20 = 1.296, P = 0.271). In males,there was no difference between two age groups (TL: F1,5= 0.962, P = 0.359; HL: F1,5 = 960, P = 0.356; HW: F1,5 =1.802, P = 0.216; FLL: F1,5 = 0.523, P = 0.490; HLL: F1,5= 2.362, P = 0.163; AL: F1,5 = 0.291, P = 0.606; AW: F1,5= 2.312, P = 0.167; DBA: F1,5 = 0.159, P = 0.702; DBI:F1,5 = 0.299, P = 0.600) (Figure 2B–2J).

3.2. Sexual Size Dimorphism There was no significant difference of SVL between males and females for hatchlings (F1,21 = 0.173, P = 0.681), juveniles (F1,38 =1.807, P = 0.187) or adults (F1,18 = 0.016, P = 0.900)(Figure 1A). And, there was no age/sex interaction for SVL (F2,80 = 0.686, P = 0.507).

后茬玉米播种前，处理T5、T6土壤碱解氮含量显著高于处理 T3，处理 T4、T5、T6 之间差异不显著，处理T4显著高于处理 T1、T2，处理 T4、T3之间差异不显著。其中处理 T6、T5、T4、T3 土壤碱解氮含量相较于前茬收获后分别增加 36.38%、34.64%、26.33%、8.40%，处理T1、T2土壤碱解氮含量比前茬收获后分别增加2.81%、2.05%。数据表明，试验小区经半年的休养其土壤碱解氮含量都有所增加，其中含有沼肥处理的小区土壤碱解氮含量增加显著，并且施加沼肥比例越高的处理土壤碱解氮含量增加越多。

The survivorship of a lizard was determined by the final capture time. If a lizard disappeared and was not subsequently observed in all potential dispersed areas described above, it was treated as having died.The primary sex ratio was assumed to be 1:1, and the life tables for each sex were made up by survivorship,survival rate and life expectancy.

For each age category, growth rate was calculated by the following function: (SVLt2–SVLt1)/(∆t), where SVLt2 is the SVL at recapture, SVLt1 is the SVL at birth or last recapture, and ∆t is the time difference between birth and recaptures (mm/month as unit, May to September, not including hibernation). We tested for correlations between the growth rate and average SVL of the initial capture. If there was no significant correlation, ANOVA was used to examine the difference in growth rate between two sexes, otherwise ANCOVA was used (using mean SVL as the covariate). The same approach was used to test for intrasexual differences in growth rate between age categories.

3. Results

A total of 100 hatchlings and 24 juveniles were marked in 2014; 16 juveniles (14 females, 2 males) and 10 adults(6 females, 4 males) with toe-clipping marking were recaptured in 2015; 10 adults (7 females, 3 males) were recaptured in 2016. In 2016, 105 individuals (79 females,26 males) were captured in total, comprising 69 adults(51 females, 18 males) and 36 juveniles (28 females, 8 males). The growth rate of 29 lizards were successfully determined, including 14 females and 2 males from hatchling to juveniles, and 8 females and 5 males from juvenile to adult.

很多作物在最初发病时，通常来讲都很难迅速察觉。然而等到病害呈现扩大化的趋向，那么防治难度就会显著增大。因此可见，针对全方位的田间管理有必要着眼于强化，确保能够及时察觉各类虫害与病害，并且将其控制于萌芽中。从田间管理的整个流程来看，田间管理贯穿于作物播种期、作物幼苗期以及作物成熟期，要因地制宜选择与之相适应的防控手段。

In hatchling lizards, the following measurements (see in Figure 1B–1J) were not different between sexes while SVL was controlled for (TL: F1,21 = 0.008, P = 0.928; HL:F1,21 = 0.839, P = 0.371; HW: F1,21 = 0.020, P = 0.888;FLL: F1,21= 0.015, P = 0.903; HLL: F1,21 = 0.010, P =0.992; AL: F1,21 = 0.700, P = 0.413; AW: F1,21 = 0.078, P =0.783; DBA: F1,21 = 0.133, P = 0.719; DBI: F1,21 = 0.015,P = 0.905). The same result was obtained for juvenile lizards (TL: F1,38 = 0.004, P = 0.952; HL: F1,38 = 0.632,P = 0.432; HW: F1,38 = 0.858, P = 0.360; FLL: F1,38 =0.242, P = 0.625; HLL: F1,38 = 0.386, P = 0.538; AL: F1,38= 0.344, P = 0.561; AW: F1,38 = 0.006, P = 0.939; DBA:F1,38 = 2.053, P = 0.160; DBI: F1,38 = 0.103, P = 0.750).In adult lizards, significant sexual difference was found in TL (F1,18 = 4.964, P = 0.040) and HW (F1,18 = 4.963,P = 0.045), but not in HL (F1,18 = 3.430, P = 0.081), FLL(F1,18 = 3.316, P = 0.086), HLL (F1,18 = 2.926, P = 0.105),AL (F1,18 = 0.043, P = 0.838), AW (F1,18 = 1.416, P =0.250), DBA (F1,18 = 0.236, P = 0.633) or DBI (F1,18 =3.153, P = 0.094). The influence of interaction between age and sex was significant to variation of TL (F2,80 =6.685, P = 0.002), HL (F2,80 = 5.240, P = 0.007) and HW(F2,80 = 4.339, P = 0.016) between each age, but not to the variation of FLL(F2,80 = 0.007, P = 0.993), HLL (F2,80 =0.615, P = 0.543), AL (F2,80 = 0.931, P = 0.399), AW (F2,80= 2.684, P = 0.075), DBA (F2,80 = 0.270, P = 0.764) and DBI (F2,80 = 0.593, P = 0.555).

2.2. Data analysis Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the Levene’s test were employed to test the variable normality and homogeneity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test for differences in mean SVL between males and females of the same age, while body-length adjusted size differences were tested using analysis of covariance(ANCOVA, with SVL as a covariate). We used two-way ANOVA to compare the SVL between sexes and among ages, while two-way ANCOVA was used to compare other morphologies when SVL was controlled for.

3.1. Survivorship and Sex Ratio There was a considerable difference in survival rate between males and females. Males had a lower survival rate (6%) than females (14%) between hatchling and adult. The average sex ratio of males to females was 1:3 in this population,with 1:3.5 in juveniles and 1:2.8 in adults.

她睁眼看着窗外，从半夜醒来，直到天色渐亮，一夜间，阳台上盖了一床雪的被子。易非看着那雪被子越来越厚，衬着雪的背景也越来越明亮。东方发白了。小巷子里有第一个孩子起来，开了门，对着雪地大呼小叫时，易非也起来了。

3.3. Growth Rate The growth rate of SVL in the age group from hatchling to juvenile was significantly larger than that in the age group from juvenile to adult in males(t1,5 = 4.821, P = 0.005), but no significant difference was found in females between different age groups (F1,20 =2.272, P = 0.151). In each age group, the growth rate was not different between males and females (age group from hatchling to juvenile: t1,14 = –1.252, P = 0.231; age group from juvenile to adult: F1,11 = 0.721, P = 0.414) (Figure 2A).

2.1. Data Collection The study site is located on sand dunes (35.79° N, 101.04° E; datum = National Geodetic Coordinate System 1980; 3190 m above sea level) in Guinan County, Qinghai Province, China. The quadrat is about 200 m in length and 100 m in width, and covered all areas that active P. guinanensis were observed. The potential dispersion of the lizard is limited as the quadrat is a semi isolated area surrounded with mountainous slopes or river bank. In August 2014, we randomly collected active hatchling and juvenile lizards by hand during four days, and measured and numbered each captured individual with a unique toe-clip before release.We recaptured the active lizards by hand and released them after measurements were taken during four days in August 2015. We recaptured surviving lizards throughout the quadrat and all potential dispersing areas by hand and digging holes during four working days of August 2016.The hatchling, juveniles and adults could be distinguished easily based on their distinct non-overlappling range of body size, and the sex of hatchlings could be determined through the sex of corresponding recaptured juveniles or adults. The following measurements were made for each lizard: snout-vent length (SVL); tail length (TL, from the vent to the tail tip); head length (HL, from the snout to the posterior end of the skull); head width (HW, taken at the posterior end of mandible); forelimp length (FLL,humerus plus ulna); hindlimp length (HLL, femur plus tibia); abdomen length (AL, from the posterior base of the fore-limb to the anterior base of the hind-limb); abdomen width (AW, maximum width of abdomen); distance between axillae (DBA); distance between iliac crests(DBI). Newly-born lizards in the first year of growth,annotinous lizards in the second year, and mature lizards with two or more years of age are clearly different each other in body size, which were considered as hatchling,juvenile and adult lizards, respectively. Individuals with two or more years of age were considered to be mature as some female individuals could be pregnant after two years of growth. SSD was determined for each age, and all measurements on body sizes were compared between two sexes.

Our study concluded that the female-biased sexual ratio is correlated with a sex-specific survival rate. There was no SSD of SVL in any age group of P. guinanensis, except for adult male-biased SSD in head width and tail length which might be resulted from sexual selection. Male lizards had a very high mortality during the first year of life and relative low mortality in the second year, and female lizards had a relative low and stable mortality.The differential mortality between both sexes might be responsible for the female-biased sex ratio of this population. Males usually have larger home ranges than females and male-male conflict could force smaller male lizards to disperse (Qi et al., 2013; Stamps, 1993; Wang et al., 2004), which will lead to increased mortality of males due to injury and greater exposure to predation(Christe et al., 2006; Owensmith, 1993), while the locomotor costs of pregnancy in Phrynocephalus could potentially increase the injury of adult females (Lu et al.,2015).

Figure 1 Comparison of morphologies between sexes and among ages in toad-headed lizard P. guinanensis in Guinan County, Qinghai Province, China. The data are presented as means ± SE. P ＜ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant (*P ＜ 0.05).

Figure 2 Growth rates of SVL and other proportional measurements of male and female P. guinanensis in Guinan County, Qinghai Province,China. The abbreviation in each graph represents that: SVL (snout-vent length); TL (tail length); HL (head length); HW (head width); FLL(forelimp length); HLL (hindlimp length); AL (abdomen length); AW (abdomen width); DBA (distance between axillae); DBI (distance between iliac crests). The data are presented as means ± SE. P ＜ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant (*P ＜ 0.05).

4. Discussion

During growth from hatchling to juvenile, the growth rates of all other measurements (except SVL) showed no differences between males and females (TL: F1,14 =3.276, P = 0.093; HL: F1,14 = 0.558, P = 0.467; HW: F1,14= 0.075, P = 0.788; FLL: F1,14 = 0.136, P = 0.718; HLL:F1,14 = 0.014, P = 0.906; AL: F1,14 = 0.089, P = 0.771; AW:(F1,14 = 0.747, P = 0.402; DBA: F1,14 = 2.610, P = 0.128;DBI: F1,14 = 0.636, P = 0.439). During the juvenile to adult growth period, the growth rate of HL in males was significant large than females (F1,11 = 7.490, P = 0.019),but other measurements showed no significant differences between both sexes (TL: F1,11 = 0.915, P = 0.359; HW:F1,11 = 3.939, P = 0.073; FLL: F1,11 = 1.665, P = 0.223;HLL: F1,11 = 0.744, P = 0.407; AL: F1,11 = 0.295, P =0.598; AW: F1,11 = 0.441, P = 0.520; DBA: F1,11 = 0.019, P= 0.894; DBI: F1,11 = 0.039, P = 0.847).

不考虑不同集料类型影响的情况下，研究不同轮胎花纹对路面抗滑性能的影响，三种级配类型对应四种不同轮胎花纹的试验结果如图3所示。

While there is no significant SSD in SVL in P.guinanensis among age groups, the ontogenetic SSD of male-biased head size and tail length might result from male-male competition. Male-male competition and female mate choice likely favor males with large head and high bite force, to increase the advantages during malemale conflict and strength female preference (Herrel et al.,2010; Kaliontzopoulou et al., 2012). The tail in lizards was generally related to the speed and balance (Damme et al.,1998; Herrel et al., 2001; Losos, 1990; Vanhooydonck et al., 2006), and maybe used for visual signalling during territory defending of Phrynocephalus (Qi et al., 2011).Lizards with long tails likely have advantages in territory defence and social status maintenance (Brecko et al.,2008; Kaliontzopoulou et al., 2007). In addition, SSD in head width and tail length were revealed in adult lizards at the age ranged from juvenile to adult. Therefore, sexual selection should be preferred to be correlated with male biased SSD in head width and tail length.

Alternatively, SSD in head size and tail length might be associated with other selection pressures, such as sexual specific growth rate. For example, sexual difference in growth pattern could give rise to male-biased SSD(Cox, 2006; Johnston, 2011). Individual growth rates are often related to food consumption, energetic cost of reproduction or reproductive behaviour (Cox, 2006; Cox et al., 2006; Cox and Calsbeek, 2010; Haenel and John-Alder, 2002; Pearson et al., 2002). Different sexual tradeoffs between growth and reproduction could also give rise to SSD (Madsen and Shine, 1993; Zhao and Liu, 2014).Nevertheless, we did not find any sexual difference in growth rates of SVL among three different age groups of P. guinanensis, implying the less influences of sexual specific growth rate on SSD.

如若细加划分，可以从三个方面来更立体地看待上述问题。从教师的角度而言，口语教学需要解决的问题是，如何激发并调动学生的学习积极性，如何有效平衡同一个教学班级内语言能力不同的学生对教学的预期及要求，课堂的口语练习方式老套、内容陈旧，但同时教师们在改进方面又缺乏相应的知识储备和训练，教师对自身语言能力的认知不令人满意。从学生的角度而言，学生对口语课堂活动的参与度较低，语言表现力也不够。从课堂的整体环境而言，没有一个很好的启发教学环境，班级人数较多，有限的教学资源，教学时间不充足。

The discovered quite low sexual survival rates from hatchlings to adults should remind researchers of expanding marked sample sizes (at least far more than 100 marked hatchlings) in future recapture experiments on Phrynocephalus viviparity. The low sample size used into this study could not rule out the potential weakness of our statistics due to using a small number of recaptured individuals, such as the estimation of growth rate, survival rate etc. However, the intrinsic value of our general conclusion should far outweigh the above weakness.

In conclusion, our study detected individuals of a rare animal when its knowledge on life history characteristics associated with population survival and development is really unknown. The species has a female-biased sexual ratio associated with sexual specific mortality,but the underlying causes of higher male mortality remains unknown while males do have larger head sizes associated with male-male competition, future studies on sex-specific dispersal ability and predation pressure might help to explain this pattern.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31372183, 31772447, 31471988). We thank the Qinghai government for permission to study (include marking and capturing) the specimens. All experimental protocols were performed in accordance with guidelines from the China Council on Animal Care and the Ethics Committee of Animal Experiments at China Jiliang University. We especially thank Yuhang LIU and Weiwei ZENG for help in the field experiments, and the anonymous referees for their detailed reviews.

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