黄喉拟水龟产卵行为的观察

Observation on the Egg-laying Behavior of Mauremys mutica

在人工环境条件下对黄喉拟水龟（Mauremys mutica）的产卵行为进行了观察,统计了6年的气温与产卵情况,发现每年2~4月平均气温之和与4月份的产卵量正相关（P〈0.05）,2~4月的气温决定了每年初始产卵的提前或推后。观察了黄喉拟水龟的产卵行为,发现其产卵巢址通常选择在高出产卵场平面（36.378±7.140）cm（n=30）的地方。根据黄喉拟水龟产卵过程的固有行为特征,将其整个产卵过程分为六期：第Ⅰ期选巢、第Ⅱ期挖掩体、第Ⅲ期掘巢穴、第Ⅳ期产卵、第Ⅴ期盖巢穴和第Ⅵ期回水体。对产卵过程各期时间与窝卵数线性回归分析表明：第Ⅰ期、第Ⅱ期、第Ⅲ期、第Ⅴ期、第Ⅵ期及整个产卵过程所需时间均与窝卵数无关;而第Ⅳ期产卵时间与窝卵数呈显著正相关。揭示了窝卵数越少,母龟在产卵场消耗的能量对应于投入到每一枚卵的能量就越多;而窝卵数越多,则恰好相反。

Asian Yellow Pond Turtle （Mauremys mutica） is native in tropical East Asia, and is a member of the family Bataguridae. Asian Yellow Pond Turtle had been one of the most popular aquaculture species in Asian owing to the high values for view and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The egg-laying behavior of yellow pond turtle has been observed in the condition of artificial environment in this paper. It indicated that the sum of average temperature of per month from February to April was positive correlative with the quantity of eggs laying in April （P 〈 0.05） by analyzing the data of temperature and egg-laying of turtle in statistics from 2001 to 2006. The time egg-laying begins of the turtle population was controlled in those years by the sum of average temperature of per month from February to April. It was detected that the turtle liked to lay eggs in a high mound, 36.378 ± 7.140 cm （ n = 30） above egg-laying site plane. According to the inherent egg-laying behavior of yellow pond turtle, the whole nesting process was divided into six stages： stage Ⅰ meaning selecting nest, stage Ⅱ meaning excavating body pit, stage m meaning excavating egg chamber, stage Ⅳ meaning laying egg, stage Ⅴ meaning covering nest, and stage VI meaning re-entry water. Time taken by turtle for nesting in six stages was analyzed. The result showed that there was no significant relationship between the time taken in stages Ⅰ, Ⅱ ,Ⅲ , Ⅴ , Ⅵ and the clutch. But the relationship between stage Ⅳ and clutch size was significant.