Forage availability and maternal characteristics affect costs of reproduction in a large marsupial

Toni, Pauline; Forsyth, David M.; Festa‐Bianchet, Marco

doi:10.1007/s00442-020-04653-5

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…2018; Toni et al . 2020), so this measure will be subject to some variation. Nonetheless, our results confirm that irruption phases can be distinguished using reproductive rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Births of EGK are concentrated in summer in south-eastern Australia (Poole 1983) and young remain in the pouch for about 10 months (Poole 1975), so surveys of reproductive rate should be conducted in winter or spring to enhance detection of pouch young, which are evident from distention of the pouch. Female reproductive rate in EGK can be influenced by a number of other factors, such as foraging rate, body size and age (G elin et al 2015;Quesnel et al 2018;Toni et al 2020), so this measure will be subject to some variation. Nonetheless, our results confirm that irruption phases can be distinguished using reproductive rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early warning signs of population irruptions in Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

Wilson¹,

Coulson²

2021

Eco Management Restoration

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SummaryLeft unchecked, macropods (kangaroos and wallabies) can exhibit irruptive population dynamics, rising rapidly to a peak, then crashing when overwhelmed by inadequate resources. This predictable population trajectory frequently leads to overabundance issues, particularly in peri‐urban parks and nature reserves. Management decisions are usually guided by estimates of population density, which can be difficult to obtain, sometimes inaccurate and often inadequate because long‐term data are needed to estimate population growth. Alternatively, density‐dependent vital rates could be used to predict the growth trajectory of a population before management issues become evident. We applied a framework of sequential changes in vital rates to examine potential indicators of population growth trajectory. We sampled 16 populations of Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) in south‐eastern Australia. Using a range of methods, we measured one vital rate (female reproductive rate) and one surrogate rate (adult sex ratio). As population density increased before irruptive peaks, female reproductive rate (90% breeding) was higher than during post‐peak declines (66% breeding). Similarly, sex ratios in increasing populations were at parity and then became more female‐biased (65% females) after peaks. These variables are readily measured in small parks and reserves, and therefore offer promising indicators of population growth trajectory, which can be used to forecast management issues and initiate timely management actions.

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“…2018; Toni et al . 2020), so this measure will be subject to some variation. Nonetheless, our results confirm that irruption phases can be distinguished using reproductive rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early warning signs of population irruptions in Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

Wilson¹,

Coulson²

2021

Eco Management Restoration

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“…body condition that individuals need to face the next rutting season [96][97][98]. For instance, autumn rains affected the availability of biomass and grass in late spring and early summer, and therefore, they may influence deer body condition for reproduction [99,100].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Rainfall decrease and red deer rutting behaviour: Weaker and delayed rutting activity though higher opportunity for sexual selection

et al. 2021

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In the last decades, climate change has caused an increase in mean temperatures and a reduction in average rainfall in southern Europe, which is expected to reduce resource availability for herbivores. Resource availability can influence animals' physical condition and population growth. However, much less is known on its effects on reproductive performance and sexual selection. In this study, we assessed the impact of three environmental factors related to climate change (rainfall, temperature and vegetation index) on Iberian red deer Cervus elaphus hispanicus reproductive timing and sexual behaviour, and their effects on the opportunity for sexual selection in the population. We measured rutting phenology as rut peak date, the intensity of male rutting activity as roaring rate, and the opportunity for sexual selection from the distribution of females among harem holding males in Doñana Biological Reserve (Southwest Spain), from data of daily observations collected during the rut over a period of 25 years. For this study period, we found a trend for less raining and hence poorer environmental conditions, which associated with delayed rutting season and decreased rutting intensity, but that appeared to favour a higher degree of polygyny and opportunity for sexual selection, all these relationships being modulated by population density and sex ratio. This study highlights how climate change (mainly rainfall reduction in this area) can alter the conditions for mating and the opportunity for sexual selection in a large terrestrial mammal.

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“…An experimental approach is therefore necessary to disentangle the effects of environmental conditions and individual quality, by changing the parental effort while leaving the environmental conditions unchanged (Ruffino et al, 2014 ). Despite the fact that additional food‐dependent survival costs of reproduction are expected to affect population growth rate, only few studies have experimentally investigated the effect of habitat quality on costs of reproduction (see e.g., Barbraud & Weimerskirch, 2005 ; Hamel, Côté, et al, 2010 ; Toni et al, 2020 ). Therefore, demographic and evolutionary consequences of variation in natural food availability can be considerably underestimated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced habitat quality increases intrinsic but not ecological costs of reproduction

Michel

Tschumi

Naef‐Daenzer

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Although the costs of reproduction are predicted to vary with the quality of the breeding habitat thereby affecting population dynamics and life-history trade-offs, empirical evidence for this pattern remains sparse and equivocal. Costs of reproduction can operate through immediate ecological mechanisms or through delayed intrinsic mechanisms. Ignoring these separate pathways might hinder the identification of costs and the understanding of their consequences. We experimentally investigated the survival costs of reproduction for adult little owls (Athene noctua) within a gradient of habitat quality. We supplemented food to nestlings, thereby relieving the parents' effort for brood provisioning. We used radio-tracking and Bayesian multistate modeling based on marked recapture and dead recovery to estimate survival rates of adult little owls across the year as a function of food supplementation and habitat characteristics. Food supplementation to nestlings during the breeding season increased parental survival not only during the breeding season but also during the rest of the year. Thus, the low survival of parents of unfed broods likely represents both, strong ecological and strong intrinsic costs of reproduction. However, while immediate ecological costs occurred also in high-quality habitats, intrinsic costs carrying over to the post-breeding period occurred only in low-quality habitats. Our results suggest that immediate costs resulting from ecological mechanisms such as predation, are high also in territories of high habitat quality. Long-term costs resulting from intrinsic tradeoffs, however, are only paid in low-quality habitats. Consequently, differential effects of habitat quality on immediate ecological and delayed intrinsic mechanisms can mask the increase of costs of reproduction in low-quality breeding habitats. Intrinsic costs may represent an underrated mechanism of habitat quality affecting adult survival rate thereby considerably accelerating population decline in degrading habitats. This study therefore highlights the need for a long-term perspective to fully assess the costs of reproduction and the role of habitat quality in modifying these costs.

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Forage availability and maternal characteristics affect costs of reproduction in a large marsupial

Cited by 11 publications

References 53 publications

Early warning signs of population irruptions in Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

Early warning signs of population irruptions in Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

Rainfall decrease and red deer rutting behaviour: Weaker and delayed rutting activity though higher opportunity for sexual selection

Reduced habitat quality increases intrinsic but not ecological costs of reproduction

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