Age, Adult Survival Rate, and Adult Life Expectancy of a Podarcis tauricus Population (Reptilia: Lacertidae) from Saros Bay, Turkey

Abdullah Altunışık, Tuğba Ergül Kalayci, İbrahim Uysal, Murat Tosunoğlu, Nurhayat Özdemir

Abstract


In this study, the age composition of a Podarcis tauricus population from Saros Bay (northwest Turkey) was determined by skeletochronology. 27 preserved adults (20♀♀, 5♂♂, 2 juveniles) were evaluated and the maximum observed lifespan was recorded to be 7 years in females and 6 years in males. The mean age was 5.2 ± 0.2 years in males and 5.0 ± 0.2 years in females; the mean snout-vent length (SVL) was 63.0 ± 0.7 mm (range: 60.4 – 64) in males and 61.3 ± 0.9 mm (range 52.4 – 68.5) in females. No significant differences were found between sexes in terms of body size, but the sexual dimorphism index (SDI), was determined as 0.03, indicating a weakly male-biased. Adult survival rate and adult life expectancy were estimated to be 0.51 and 2.54 for female individuals, respectively. The lizards reached sexual maturity between 2 and 3 years. No significant difference was found between the sexes in terms of age and head sizes. The age and SVL were correlated only in females. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found among SVL, head length (HL), and width (HW) in females.

Keywords


age structure; sexual dimorphism; Podarcis tauricus; adult survival rate; adult life expectancy

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2016-23-4-278-282

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