Does mast seeding shape mating time in wild boar? A comparative study

Abstract

In seasonal environments, the timing of reproduction often matches with the peak of food resources. One well-known effect of global warming is an earlier phenology of resources, leading to a possible mismatch between the timing of reproduction for consumers and food peak. However, global warming may also change the dynamics of food resources, such as the intensity and frequency of pulsed mast seeding. How quantitative changes in mast seeding influence the timing of reproduction of seed consumers remains unexplored. Here, we assess how yearly variation in mast seeding influences mating time in wild boar ( Sus scrofa ), a widespread seed consumer species. We took advantage of the intensive monitoring of both female reproduction (1636 females) and acorn production over 6 consecutive years across 15 populations of wild boar in the wild. We found that mating time occurs earlier when acorn production increases in most but not all populations. In two out of 15 populations, heavy females mated earlier than light ones. Our findings demonstrate that mast seeding advances the mating time in some populations, which could perhaps impact how boars respond to climate change.

Tail-dependence of masting synchrony results in continent-wide seed scarcity

“…On the one hand, mast peaks generate a resource pulse resulting in outbreaks of rodents that spread up the food web (Schmidt & Ostfeld, 2003), spikes in rodent-borne human diseases (Jones et al, 1998;Bregnard et al, 2021), and elevated concentrations of allergenic pollen (Tseng et al, 2020). Conversely, years devoid of seed production lead to famines, causing rodent population crashes (Zwolak et al, 2018), poor or skipped reproduction in birds and mammals (Ruf et al, 2006;Fidler et al, 2008;Cachelou et al, 2022), the emigration of seed-eating wildlife (Zuckerberg et al, 2020), immigration of birds attracted to habitats where rodents are scarce (Szymkowiak & Thomson, 2019;Maag et al, 2024), or heightened human-wildlife conŕicts as consumers seek food outside of forests (Kozakai et al, 2011;Bautista et al, 2023). The consequences of pulsed resources from mast peaks and famines resulting from years of seed scarcity are magniőed by the spatial scale of their synchrony (Yang et al, 2008;Bogdziewicz et al, 2016;Clark et al, 2019).…”