Dietary Vitamin D in female rock lizards induces condition-transfer effects in their offspring

One way that maternal effects may benefit the offspring is by informing them about the characteristics of the environment. Through gestation, environmentally induced maternal effects might promote in the offspring specific behavioral responses like dispersal or residence, according to their new habitat characteristics. Females of the Carpetan rock lizard (Iberolacerta cyreni) seem to choose their home ranges using the smell of provitamin D3 in scent marks produced by males. Here, we supplemented gravid females of I. cyreni with dietary provitamin D3 or vitamin D3 to examine whether these food resources, also associated with the scent of males, affect the motivation to disperse and the locomotor performance of their offspring. Our results suggest that the supplementary availability of the resource (vitamin D3) to mothers may provoke condition-transfer maternal effects that motivate the residence or the dispersal of the offspring in their postnatal habitat. Thus, hatchlings of supplemente...母体效应（maternal effects）使子代获益的途径之一，是为子代传递其所处环境的相关特征信息。在妊娠过程中，由环境诱导产生的母体效应，可根据子代新生境的特征，促使其产生特定的行为响应，例如扩散（dispersal）或居留（residence）。卡佩坦岩蜥（Iberolacerta cyreni）的雌性个体，似乎会通过雄性个体分泌的气味标记中的维生素原D3（provitamin D3）气味来选择其活动家域。本研究通过为怀卵的卡佩坦岩蜥雌性个体补充膳食级维生素原D3或维生素D3（vitamin D3），探究这类同样与雄性气味相关的食物资源，是否会对子代的扩散动机与运动表现产生影响。研究结果显示，为母体补充该类资源（维生素D3），可能会引发依赖于个体状态传递的母体效应，进而促使子代在出生后的生境中选择居留或进行扩散。据此，经补充处理的幼体（hatchlings）……