Data from: Some like it dry: water restriction overrides heterogametic sex determination in two reptiles

The evolution of sex determination is complex and yet crucial in our understanding of population stability. In ectotherms, sex determination involves a variety of mechanisms including genetic determination (GSD), environment determination (ESD), but also interactions between the two via sex reversal. In this study, we investigated whether water deprivation during pregnancy could override GSD in two heterogametic squamate reptiles. We demonstrated that water restriction in early gestation induced a male-biased secondary sex ratio in both species, which could only be explained by water sex reversal as the more likely mechanism. We further monitored some long term fitness estimates of offspring, which suggested that water sex determination (WSD) represented a compensatory strategy to ensure a balanced operational sex ratio. This study provides new insights into sex determination modes and calls for a general investigation of mechanisms behind WSD and to examine the evolutionary implications.data_femalesThe female dataset includes all data on females (each female per line) of the two species and for each year of experiment. The table also gives the females' identification (mother ID), their affiliated hydric treatment and reproductive timing as described in the manuscript. For each mother, the number of offspring females and males at birth are available to calculate secondary sex ratio.data_juvenilesThe juvenile dataset includes all data on juveniles (each juvenile per line) of the two species and for each year of experiment. Each juvenile is identified with a number (juvenile ID) and affiliated to its mother (mother ID) and relevant maternal hydric treatment. Each juvenile has been sexed and measured for body growth rate as described in the manuscript. In lizard analyses, we also accounted for outdoor enclosure in analyses, so the table also includes this information