| My previous work on the grass snake (Natrix natrix) shows that a reproducing female controls many aspects of the phenotypes of her offspring. The pathway by which she exerts that control is by determining the physical conditions that the embryos experience during development. As in many other reptiles the offspring phenotypes of grass snakes are very sensitive to incubation temperature, and so a female grass snake can change the attributes of her offspring simply by her choice of nest-site. Composts and manure heaps provide female grass snakes with thermally optimal incubation environments for their eggs, but what are the particulars of that optimality? And what can we do to mitigate the impact of manure containment on grass snake reproduction? Do viviparous species use behavioural thermoregulation to control offspring traits in the same way as grass snakes use nest-site selection? The attached research programme is a continuation of my project entitled "The thermal ecology of the grass snake (Natrix natrix)", which Stiftelsen Lamms Minne funded with a generous grant in 2009. With this proposal I request funding for a doctoral student to continue to work on this system. The objective is to test hypotheses about the evolution of reptilian viviparity and to develop a conservation strategy for the grass snake. Initially the candidate and I will continue to investigate the reproductive ecology of the grass snake with a series of experiments that are designed to answer selected questions about the effects of stochastic events, communal nesting behaviour, thermoregulatory tactics and natural selection (studies 1-5 in the attached proposal). Then we will initiate a conservation strategy to mitigate the impact of changing agricultural practices on grass snake reproduction (study 6), before moving on to test hypotheses about the evolution of viviparity (studies 7-8). Altogether these studies form a solid research programme that will keep the PhD candidate busy for the next four years. The project falls squarely within the Foundation's mission of providing financial support for scientific research for the conservation of Swedish nature, and the benefits are very clear. First, by increasing our understanding of the thermal biology of reptiles we can make more accurate predictions about how these temperature-sensitive organisms might respond to global warming. Second, the work will generate long-term population data that is invaluable for population modelling and general conservation planning. Third, information gathered under this proposal has considerable value for breeding programmes that rely on artificial incubation of reptile eggs to increase a population. Fourth, the project will test and develop methods for increasing the accessibility of nesting sites that are vital for grass snake reproduction, as a first step in developing a conservation plan for these declining snakes. Fifth, not only will our work generate important new knowledge about the biology of our reptilian fauna that will help us develop more effective conservation plans, but we will also test long-standing hypotheses about the origin of reptilian viviparity that will further theories in the field of evolutionary developmental biology. |