DOI: 10.5061/dryad.05qfttfbg
title: Data from: Maternal diet influences fecundity in a freshwater turtle undergoing population decline

description: Food availability determines the amount of energy animals can acquire and
 allocate to reproduction and other necessary functions. Female animals
 that are food-limited thus experience reduced energy available for
 reproduction. When this occurs, females may reduce frequency of
 reproductive events or the number or size of offspring per reproductive
 bout. We assessed how maternal diet affects reproductive output in adult
 female Murray River short-necked turtles, Emydura macquarii, from four
 wetlands in Victoria. We previously found that turtle diets differ in the
 composition of plants and animals between our study wetlands. In this
 study, we tested whether differences in turtle diet composition (i.e
 plants and animals) at these wetlands were associated with differences in
 clutch mass, individual egg mass, bulk egg composition, and hatching
 success. We found total clutch mass increased with maternal body size at
 each site. At sites where filamentous green algae were scarce and E.
 macquarii were carnivorous, females produced smaller clutches relative to
 body size compared to females from sites where algae were abundant, and
 turtles were more herbivorous. Individual egg mass, bulk egg composition,
 and hatching success did not differ across wetlands. Isotopic analysis
 revealed a significant positive relationships between the carbon and
 nitrogen isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) of the eggs and those of the mothers,
 indicating that mothers allocated ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes
 to their eggs similar to those present in their tissues. Our study
 suggests that at sites where females are more carnivorous due to a
 relative absence of algae, females produce smaller clutches but other
 aspects of their reproduction are not significantly impacted. The
 reduction in clutch size associated with differences in the availability
 of dietary plants and animals may have long-term consequences for E.
 macquarii and other freshwater turtle species that are experiencing
 population declines.
description: Please see the published manuscript associated with this
 data
description: # Maternal diet influences fecundity in a freshwater turtle undergoing
 population decline
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.05qfttfbg](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.05qfttfbg) The attached Excel spreadsheet includes all data related to the associated manuscript. Briefly, gravid female turtles were captured in the wild, induced to lay their eggs with oxytocin, and eggs were collected for either direct analysis or incubation. Eggs (and maternal claw samples) were analysed for isotopic content, and eggs were analysed for total protein, water, fat, and energy content. The incubated eggs were incubated at either 26 or 30 C (clutches split approximately 50-50), and hatching success was measured. ## Description of the data and file structure In the spreadsheet,  Workbook "Egg Collection Data" provides summary data of all eggs collected, including laying date and time, mass, dimensions, and fate "Hatching Dates" indicates the hatching dates for those incubated eggs which hatched "Egg and Mother Composition Data" includes all analysed compositional data, including isotopes, dry and wet mass, protein, fat, and energy contents. "Hatch Success Data" provides the numbers of eggs incubated in each treatment from each mother, and the number of eggs which hatched.