DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS ON INTERSEXUAL AND INTRASEXUAL VARIATION IN GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION IN A LIZARD WITH TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT SEX DETERMINATION

The mechanisms that control growth and reproduction have received cons iderable attention by molecular and cellular endocrinologists, yet the re has been relatively little effort to link these two aspects of phys iology. On the other hand, evolutionary biologists have long commented on the relationship between growth and reproduction in many species, yet have generally neglected the mechanisms underlying such complex tr aits. An approach that integrates the multiple proximate levels promis es to provide significant insight into the evolution of neuroendocrine control mechanisms. In this chapter, we take this approach in reviewi ng environmental influences on growth and reproduction in the leopard gecko, Eublepharis macularius. In this species, incubation temperature during embryonic development not only determines gonadal sex, but als o underlies within-sex differences in growth, adult morphology, aggres siveness, reproductive physiology and behaviour, and brain organizatio n. Thus, the leopard gecko is an excellent model to elucidate the deve lopmental interactions among the environment and the endocrine and ner vous systems that control growth and reproduction. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience Inc. All rights reserved.