ABSTRACT
The life-history traits of ectothermic animals can be influenced by many abiotic factors, including climate. As an ectothermic species, we questioned whether the life-history characteristics of the orange-tailed skink (Eumeces schneiderii) populations differ between two different environments/climates. Our findings showed that the average body size of lizards living in the Mediterranean climate zone was higher than those in the continental climate zone. However, although Mediterranean population had higher mean values regarding average age, there was no discernible difference between the two climate zone populations. When considering all populations collectively, it has been discovered that the species' maximum lifespan is 18 years. Body size notably increased with age in both populations. Through the utilization of the von Bertalanffy equation, the anticipated growth parameters portrayed a highly accurate connection between age and snout-vent length. In conclusion, lizards living in habitats characterized by milder Mediterranean climates were found to have larger body sizes than continental populations, but both populations were comparable in terms of mean age. This difference can be explained by several factors, including activation time, temperature, precipitation, food abundance, and the presence of predators.
ABSTRACT
Determining the age of any species allows it to be analyzed from the ontogenetic, demographic, and ecological perspectives. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the age structure of congener species (Lacerta media and Lacerta viridis) with the same ecological niche may vary in different areas. In this context, we applied skeletochronology method to reveal various demographic parameters, such as age structure, longevity, age at sexual maturity, growth rate, survival rate, adult life expectancy, and the relationship between age and body size in the green lizard, L. viridis, and the medium lizard, L. media. In L. media and L. viridis, the maximum lifespan was 10 and 8 years, respectively. The mean age and body size of females were significantly greater than those of males in L. media. However, in the examined L. viridis population, no appreciable variation in mean age or body size was found to exist between the sexes. It was estimated that the green lizards reach maturity at the age of 2 or 3 years. However, the L. media reached sexual maturity approximately 1 year later than the congener. The body size markedly increased with age in males for both studied populations. However, in females, body size positively increased with age only in L. media. The approach of skeletochronology that we utilized in this study to assess age structure makes it simple to gather a variety of time-dependent ecological data for such ectothermic species.
