Divergence in life-history traits among three populations of the sea snake Emydocephalus anulatus

Life-history traits such as rates of growth, survival and reproduction can vary though time within a single population, or through space among populations, due to abiotically-driven changes in resource availability. In terrestrial reptiles, parameters such as temperature and rainfall generate variation in life-histories – but other parameters likely are more important in marine systems. We studied three populations of sea snakes (Emydocephalus annulatus) in adjacent bays in the IndoPacific archipelago of New Caledonia. The extreme philopatry of individual snakes allows us to unambiguously allocate each animal to one of the three populations. Although water temperatures and rainfall do not differ over this small scale, one site experiences more intense winds, restricting opportunities for foraging. Our 18-year mark-recapture dataset (>1,200 snakes, >2,400 captures) reveals significant divergence among populations in life-history traits. Survival rates and population densities were ...生活史性状（life-history traits）如生长速率、存活速率与繁殖速率，既可在单个种群内部随时间发生变化，也可在不同种群间随空间差异产生变异，其驱动因素为非生物因子介导的资源可获得性变化。在陆生爬行动物中，温度与降雨等参数会导致生活史性状产生变异，但海洋系统中其他参数的作用可能更为关键。我们于新喀里多尼亚（New Caledonia）所属的印度-太平洋群岛的相邻海湾中，针对三个环纹扁尾海蛇（Emydocephalus annulatus）种群展开了研究。个体海蛇极强的恋巢性（philopatry）使得我们能够明确地将每一条个体划分至三个种群中的某一个。尽管在此小尺度研究区域内，水温与降雨并无显著差异，但其中一个海湾的风力更为强劲，限制了海蛇的觅食机会。我们历时18年的标记重捕数据集（涵盖超过1200条海蛇、2400余次捕获记录）显示，不同种群间的生活史性状存在显著分化。存活率与种群密度分别为……