An experiment on compensatory growth in lacertid lizards from a population in Suzhou, Anhui, eastern China, after different periods of starvation, was conducted from May to June and September to October 2001. All lizards used in this study were adult males. The experiment lasted for 24 days for each test group. Group C, S3, S6, S9 were deprived of food for 0 (control), 3, 6 and 9 days, respectively. Then each group was fed for the rest of the experimental period. There were significant differences in food intake and mass change among the experimental groups during the course of weight recovery. S9 had higher food intake and mass change than S3 and group C. There were no obvious differences in the apparent digestive coefficient (ADC) or assimilation efficiency (AE) among experimental groups. The results indicate that there was a compensatory effect in weight recovery following starvation, and that the compensatory effect mainly resulted from significant increase in feeding intensity during weight recovery.
We studied the embryonic use of material and energy during incubation and hatchling traits in the lacertid lizards Eremias argus, which were collected from a mountain population in Langyashan, Chuzhou, eastern China in April, 2005. We randomly selected one egg from eleven clutches, opened and separated them into shell and contents, the other eggs were incubated at naturally fluctuating temperature (varying from 14.0 to 37.0℃) using wet vermiculite as the incubation substrate, of which the moisture was kept at -12 kPa water potential. The incubation length of first clutches and second clutches averaged 37.5 d and 33.0 d, respectively. The wet mass of eggs increased for absorbing moisture while incubating, but no significant difference of the final wet mass was founded between first clutches and second clutches. Fluctuating temperature significantly affected Fat body dry mass, but it did not affect hatching success, sex ratio, snout-vent length, tail length, body wet mass, body dry mass, carcass dry mass and residual yolk dry mass of hatchlings. Fat body dry mass from higher fluctuating temperature was greater than did that from lower fluctuating temperature. Incubation temperature affected some norphological traits of hatchlings, with hatchlings from higher temperature having larger hindleg length and tympanum length than did those from lower temperature. Embryo from higher temperature used much calcium than did that from lower temperature. During incubation, approximately 57.5% of dry material, 27.8% of non-polar lipids and 47.4% of energy in the yolk of freshly laid egg was transferred to the hatchling. There was not significant clutch variation of embryonic use of material and energy and hatchling traits in Eremias argus.
