Variations in litter size and reproductive effort within and between some populations of Lacerta vivipara

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Abstract
We studied the relationships between litter size, litter weight, newborn weight, relative clutch mass and the female snout‐vent length in some Lacerta vivipara populations over a period of three years.Litter size and litter weight were positively correlated with female snout‐vent length in all the populations for all the years, as in most other lizard species. Relative clutch mass generally increased with female size, though correlations appear not to be very tight.Considering the two best studied populations suggests that montane females invest less in reproduction than lowland ones.The main reproductive traits of the species appeared highly variable between as well as within the different populations hitherto studied.We argue that current theory about lizard reproductive strategy requires, first to work out a good estimate of reproductive effort, and second to get more information about the relations between the species and their environmental, biotic and abiotic conditions.