Correlation of morphology and metabolism of reproductive traits in the genus Phrynocephalus around the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The offspring size-number trade-off is a crucial concept in life-history theory, offering key insights into animal reproductive strategies. Our study examines the relationship between reproductive characteristics, morphological traits, and metabolism in Phrynocephalus lizards across 10 species around the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Reproductive output and morphological and metabolic differentiations were analyzed using Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares (PGLS) and phylogenetic ANOVA. The results show no significant differences in reproductive traits between oviparous and viviparous species. Snout-vent length and standard metabolic rate positively correlated with offspring mass, while no correlation was found with offspring number. The lack of a trade-off between offspring size and number suggests that larger females invest more in offspring mass than in offspring number. These were inconsistent with the classic prediction that females give priority to adjusting the number rather than t..., Data collection
The morphological variables include snout-vent length (SVL), head length (HL), abdomen length (AL), head width (HW), snout length (SL), snout width (SW), fore-limb length (FLL), and hind-limb length (HLL). HL, HW, SL, SW, FLL, and HLL refer to the length of protruding parts of the body. To minimize experimental errors, we used the same caliper with an accuracy of 0.01 mm for measurements and had the same experimenter perform the operations and readings of the data.
Phylogenetic analysis
Based on previous studies and our field work in recent years, we compiled 10 published mtDNA cytochrome b (cyt b) genes (GenBank IDs AY053901, AY053906, AY053915, AY053936, AY053946, AY053967, AY053976, AY053991, KF691627, KF691632). To construct a phylogeny for Phrynocephalus clades, we used MEGA-XI (Tamura et al., 2021) to align selected mtDNA cyt b genes with one gene from the outgroup Paralaudakia lehmanni (GenBank ID KF691618). Phylogenetic trees were constructed separately by u..., , # Data from: Correlation of morphology and metabolism of reproductive traits in the genus Phrynocephalus around the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jtd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jtd)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: 11species.tre

Description: The phylogeny of the 11 species of lizards obtained from Maximum Likelihood analysis based on mtDNA cyt *b* gene. Numbers on each node of the tree are the posterior probability (above the branch) and the divergence time (millions of years ago, ma).

#### File: phrydatarevised.txt

Description: This data file provides *Phrynocephalus* species data used for PGLS (Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares) analysis, including morphology, metabolism, and reproductive traits.

#### File: phrydata_Phenfixrevised.csv

Description: This data file contains morphological data for all *Phrynocephalus* species. And head size and limb size data were subjected to phyPCA (*P...,

后代数量-大小权衡是生活史理论中的核心概念，为解析动物繁殖策略提供了关键视角。本研究针对青藏高原周边10种沙蜥（*Phrynocephalus*），探讨其繁殖特征、形态性状与代谢水平之间的关联。研究采用系统发育广义最小二乘法（Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares, PGLS）与系统发育方差分析（phylogenetic ANOVA）对繁殖输出、形态与代谢分化进行分析。结果显示，卵生与胎生沙蜥的繁殖性状无显著差异。肛吻长与标准代谢率与后代体重呈显著正相关，但与后代数量无关联。后代大小与数量间不存在权衡关系，这表明体型更大的雌性更倾向于对后代体重进行投入，而非后代数量，这与"雌性优先调整后代数量而非……"的经典预测相悖。

## 数据采集
形态学变量涵盖肛吻长（SVL）、头长（HL）、腹长（AL）、头宽（HW）、吻长（SL）、吻宽（SW）、前肢长（FLL）与后肢长（HLL），其中HL、HW、SL、SW、FLL及HLL指身体突出结构的长度。为最小化实验误差，本研究统一使用精度为0.01 mm的游标卡尺开展测量，并由同一实验人员完成操作与数据读数。

## 系统发育分析
基于既往研究与近年野外工作，本研究收集了10条已发表的线粒体DNA细胞色素b（mtDNA cytochrome b, cyt b）基因序列（GenBank编号：AY053901、AY053906、AY053915、AY053936、AY053946、AY053967、AY053976、AY053991、KF691627、KF691632）。为构建沙蜥类群的系统发育树，本研究使用MEGA-XI（Tamura等，2021）对筛选得到的cyt b基因序列与外群 Lehmann岩鬣蜥（*Paralaudakia lehmanni*，GenBank编号KF691618）的同源基因进行序列比对。系统发育树分别由……构建。

# 数据来源：青藏高原周边沙蜥属繁殖性状与形态、代谢的相关性研究
[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jtd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jtd)

## 数据与文件结构说明
### 文件与变量
#### 文件：11species.tre
描述：基于线粒体DNA细胞色素b基因的最大似然分析得到的11种蜥蜴的系统发育树。树中各节点的数值分别为分支后验概率（分支上方）与分化时间（单位：百万年前，ma）。
#### 文件：phrydatarevised.txt
描述：该数据文件包含用于系统发育广义最小二乘法（Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares, PGLS）分析的沙蜥属物种数据，涵盖形态学、代谢水平与繁殖性状信息。
#### 文件：phrydata_Phenfixrevised.csv
描述：该数据文件包含所有沙蜥属物种的形态学数据，其中头部与肢体尺寸数据已进行系统发育主成分分析（phyPCA, *P...*）。