Grow fast but don’t die young: maternal effects mediate life-history tradeoffs of lizards under climate warming

1. As postulated by life-history theory, not all life-history traits can be maximized simultaneously. In ectothermic animals, climate warming is predicted to increase growth rates, but at a cost to overall lifespan. Maternal effects are expected to mediate this life-history tradeoff, but such effects have not yet been explicitly elucidated.

2. To understand maternal effects on the life-history responses to climate warming in lizard offspring, we conducted a manipulative field experiment on a desert-dwelling viviparous lacertid lizard (Eremias multiocellata), using open-top chambers in a factorial design (maternal warm climate and maternal present climate treatments × offspring warm climate and offspring present climate treatments).

3. We found that the maternal warm climate treatment had little impact on the physiological and life-history traits of adult females (i.e., metabolic rate, reproductive output, growth, and survival). However, the offspring warm climate treatment signifi...