Many studies predict that climate change will cause species movement and turnover, but few have considered the effect of climate change on range fragmentation for current species and/or populations. We used MaxEnt to predict suitable habitat, fragmentation and turnover for 134 amphibian species in China under 40 future climate change scenarios spanning four pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6 and RCP8.5) and two time periods (the 2050s and 2070s). Our results show that climate change may cause a major shift in spatial patterns of amphibian diversity. Amphibians in China would lose 20% of their original ranges on average; the distribution outside current ranges would increase by 15%. Suitable habitats for over 90% of species will be located in the north of their current range, for over 95% of species in higher altitudes (from currently 137–4,124 m to 286–4,396 m in the 2050s or 314–4,448 m in the 2070s), and for over 75% of species in the west of their current range. Also, our results predict two different general responses to the climate change: some species contract their ranges while moving westwards, southwards and to higher altitudes, while others expand their ranges. Finally, our analyses indicate that range dynamics and fragmentation are related, which means that the effects of climate change on Chinese amphibians might be two-folded.

Viviparous (live-bearing) vertebrates have evolved repeatedly within otherwise oviparous (egg-laying) clades. Over two-thirds of these changes in vertebrate reproductive parity mode happened in squamate reptiles, where the transition has happened between 98 and 129 times. The transition from oviparity to viviparity requires numerous physiological, morphological, and immunological changes to the female reproductive tract, including eggshell reduction, delayed oviposition, placental development for supply of water and nutrition to the embryo by the mother, enhanced gas exchange, and suppression of maternal immune rejection of the embryo. We performed genomic and transcriptomic analyses of a closely related oviparous–viviparous pair of lizards (Phrynocephalus przewalskiiandPhrynocephalus vlangalii) to examine these transitions. Expression patterns of maternal oviduct through reproductive development of the egg and embryo differ markedly between the two species. We found changes in expression patterns of appropriate genes that account for each of the major aspects of the oviparity to viviparity transition. In addition, we compared the gene sequences in transcriptomes of four oviparous–viviparous pairs of lizards in different genera (Phrynocephalus,Eremias,Scincella, andSphenomorphus) to look for possible gene convergence at the sequence level. We discovered low levels of convergence in both amino acid replacement and evolutionary rate shift. This suggests that most of the changes that produce the oviparity–viviparity transition are changes in gene expression, so occasional reversals to oviparity from viviparity may not be as difficult to achieve as has been previously suggested.

Eggs of Pelodiscus sinensis were incubated under one fluctuating and four constant temperatures, and hatchlings from different incubation temperatures were maintained under identical conditions to assess the effects of incubation temperature on sexual phenotype and hatchling growth. The incubation length decreased as temperature increased, but it did not differ between sexes within each temperature treatment. Hatching success was higher at intermediate temperatures (28 °C, 30 °C and the fluctuating temperature regime) than at low (24 °C) and high (34 °C) temperatures. The sex ratio of hatchlings did not differ from equality within each temperature treatment. Thus, our data support previous work that P. sinensis does not have temperature‐dependent sex determination, and add evidence for the prediction that turtles within the Trionychidae have genotypic sex determination exclusively. Incubation temperature affected hatchling mass, with hatchlings from intermediate incubation temperatures being heavier than those from low (24 °C) and high (34 °C) incubation temperatures. Hatching size was not a predictor of post‐hatching growth. Incubation temperature affected hatchling growth, with hatchlings from 24 °C overall growing faster than did hatchlings from higher incubation temperatures. The influence of incubation temperature on hatchling growth was well buffered within the range of constant temperatures from 28 °C to 34 °C. Fluctuating incubation temperatures augmented male growth but reduced female growth, as female embryos were more vulnerable to extremely high temperatures.