Introduction

1. Movements Related to Differential Reproductive Strategies in Male and Female Sonoran Mud Turtles (Kinosternon sonoriense)Kenneth J. Locey, Paul A. Stone, Marie E. Stone, Brian D. Stanila Department of Biology, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK 73034

2. Introduction • Reproductive Effort • Energy expended towards finding and competing for mates, and towards provisioning offspring • Female-biased Parental Effort: • Anisogamy requires females to allocate energy to egg production • Male-biased Mating Effort: • Anisogamy allows males to allocate energy to finding and / or competing for mates

3. Introduction • Differential reproductive strategies of males and females • “Ecological constraints impose limits on the degree to which sexual selection can operate” • (Emlen and Oring, 1977)

4. Sonoran Mud Turtle - Kinosternon sonoriense Introduction • Adults: 168 mm carapace length, maximum • 1-2 clutches of eggs per year, 6-7 eggs per clutch • Max life-span: 20+ ?

5. These environmental conditions impose ecological constraints on the reproductive efforts of K. sonoriense

6. Contexts for differential reproductive strategies in Kinosternids Male biased vagility as a result of mate searching has been previously reported in K. baurii(Tuberville, Gibbons, and Greene (1996) Asynchronous Aquatic Activity in K. sonoriense(Peterson and Stone, 2000) Female S. odoratus have the ability to store sperm (Gist and Congdon, 1998) Forced Aestivation - Turtles survive complete drying of habitats by burying themselves on land (Peterson and Stone, 2000)

7. Introduction • Spatiotemporal distribution of resources affects the success of female K. sonoriense • selection for females that seek resources and copulate enough to maintain stores of sperm • Spatiotemporal distribution of females affects success of male K. sonoriense • Selection for males that seek females and will attempt long distance movements to find females that have not been copulated with

8. Introduction • Hypothesis: The movements of male and female Sonoran Mud Turtles support the predictions of sexual selection theory • Two main predictions: • Males make longer movements within canyons than females • Males make more frequent movements between canyons than females

12. Main Vegetation: Oak / Juniper forest, scrubland, abundant wildflowers during rainy seasons

13. Blackwater Canyon -July 2006 Canyons and Stock tanks are prone to rapid and extreme changes in water availability

14. Blackwater Hole

15. Data Collection • Mark-recapture efforts in the Peloncillo Mountains since 1994. • Hoop nets placed in stock tanks and baited with sardines • Hand-captures from canyon pools and streams

16. Data Collection • Blackwater Canyon mapped in ’94 with compass and tape, and again in ’07 with GPS. • Spatial environment created in ArcMap 9.2 • Georeference locations and waypoints in ArcMap • Measure Maximum Recorded Distance Moved for Individuals captured 5 or more times. One-tailed t-test. • Examine frequency and demography of inter-canyon migrations with one-tailed binomial test.

17. Results

18. Results • Males moved farther than females, t86 = 4.235, P = 2.85E-5 • Males made inter-canyon movements more often than females Cα(1),27 = 8, P = 6.015E-4

19. #1104, Male, 453 day between captures, 2.4 km

20. #244, Male, 8 years and 9 days, 6.3 km

21. Discussion • Differences in movement of male and female K. sonoriense support the predictions of sexual selection theory • Males compete indirectly for mates

22. Future Analyses • Sexual selection hypotheses of differential reproductive strategies as responses to ephemeral resources • Scramble competition • Hydrological study • Quantify water availability • Estimates of recapture and survival with respect to sex and water availability • Program MARK

23. Acknowledgments • We thank everyone involved with data collection efforts for their assistance, and the Joe Jackson College of Graduate Studies and Research at UCO for support