Data from: Early hatching enhances survival despite beneficial phenotypic effects of late-season developmental environments

Seasonal shifts in environmental conditions provide predictable cues to
which organisms can respond in adaptive ways. For example, seasonal
changes in temperature can induce phenotypes at different times of the
year that have season-specific fitness benefits. Here, we tested the
hypothesis that embryo responses to seasonal changes in thermal
environments are adaptively matched to the timing of reproduction
(environmental-matching hypothesis). We collected eggs of the brown anole
lizard (Anolis sagrei) from early and late seasons and exposed them to
early and late thermal regimes that mimic nest temperatures. After
measuring offspring morphology and performance, we quantified their
survival in the field. Females had higher fecundity, but produced smaller
eggs, early in the season compared to late in the season. Late-season eggs
exposed to late thermal regimes had relatively high survival, but
early-season eggs exposed to early thermal regimes had similar survival
rates to those exposed to mismatched conditions. Late-season nest
temperatures and late-season eggs produced offspring that were relatively
large and fast runners. However, despite phenotypic benefits of
late-season conditions, early-season hatchlings had greater survival in
the field. Our results do not fully support the environmental-matching
hypothesis but suggest that selection favors seasonal shifts in
reproductive investment of mothers (high early-season fecundity) over
plastic responses of embryos to seasonal environmental changes.