Experience pays: offspring survival increases with female age

Life-history theory predicts that, in long-lived organisms, effort towards reproduction will increase with age, and research from oviparous vertebrates largely supports this prediction. In reptiles, where parental care occurs primarily via provisioning of the egg, older females tend to produce larger eggs, which in turn produce larger hatchlings that have increased survival. We conducted an experimental release study and report that maternal age positively influences offspring survivorship in the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) and predicts offspring survival at least as well as hatchling body size does. These data suggest that, although increasing hatchling size is a major component of reproductive success in older individuals, other factors also contribute.