Extreme thermal fluctuations from climate change unexpectedly accelerate demographic collapse of vertebrates with temperature-dependent sex determination.

Global climate is warming rapidly, threatening vertebrates with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) by disrupting sex ratios and other traits. Less understood are the effects of increased thermal fluctuations predicted to accompany climate change. Greater fluctuations could accelerate feminization of species that produce females under warmer conditions (further endangering TSD animals), or counter it (reducing extinction risk).

Thermal Response of Epigenetic Genes Informs Turtle Sex Determination with and without Sex Chromosomes.

Vertebrate sexual fate can be established by environmental cues (e.g., temperature-dependent sex determination, TSD) or by genetic content (genotypic sex determination, GSD).

Genetic demography at the leading edge of the distribution of a rabies virus vector.

The common vampire bat, , ranges from South America into northern Mexico in North America. This sanguivorous species of bat feeds primarily on medium to large-sized mammals and is known to rely on livestock as primary prey. Each year, there are hotspot areas of -specific rabies virus outbreaks that lead to the deaths of livestock and economic losses.

Genetic restoration in the eastern collared lizard under prescribed woodland burning.

Eastern collared lizards of the Ozarks live in glades--open, rocky habitats embedded in a woodland matrix. Past fire suppression had made the woodlands a barrier to dispersal, leading to habitat destruction, fragmentation and local extinction. Reintroduced populations of lizards were subjected to 10 years of habitat fragmentation under continued fire suppression followed by twelve years of landscape restoration with prescribed burns.

Transcriptional evolution underlying vertebrate sexual development.

Explaining the diversity of vertebrate sex-determining mechanisms ranging from genotypic (GSD) to temperature-dependent (TSD) remains a developmental and evolutionary conundrum. Using a phylogenetic framework, we explore the transcriptional evolution during gonadogenesis of several genes involved in sexual development, combining novel data from Chrysemys picta turtles (TSD) and published data from other TSD and GSD vertebrates. Our novel C.

The transition from isolated patches to a metapopulation in the eastern collared lizard in response to prescribed fires.

Habitat fragmentation often arises from human-induced alterations to the matrix that reduce or eliminate dispersal between habitat patches. Elimination of dispersal increases local extinction and decreases recolonization. These phenomena were observed in the eastern collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris collaris), which lives in the mid-continental highland region of the Ozarks (Missouri, USA) on glades: habitats of exposed bedrock that form desert-like habitats imbedded in a woodland matrix.

The lesser known challenge of climate change: thermal variance and sex-reversal in vertebrates with temperature-dependent sex determination.

Climate change is expected to disrupt biological systems. Particularly susceptible are species with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), as in many reptiles. While the potentially devastating effect of rising mean temperatures on sex ratios in TSD species is appreciated, the consequences of increased thermal variance predicted to accompany climate change remain obscure.