Maternal resource allocation adjusts to timing of parturition in an asynchronous breeder

MacKay, A.; Forsyth, David M.; Coulson, Geoff; Festa‐Bianchet, Marco

doi:10.1007/s00265-017-2419-9

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our hypothesis (2), that litter mass is highest and leveret body mass is lowest in the middle of the breeding season, could only be confirmed with respect to litter mass. In contrast to the results of several mammal studies, including some on the European hare (litter size: [ 27 – 29 , 46 – 48 , 50 , 82 ], offspring body mass: [ 30 , 31 ]), we did not find any effect of season of birth on litter size or on mean offspring body mass, either at birth or at the end of lactation. In fact, our findings were very close to those of researchers working on natural populations of hares under similar climatic conditions (e.g., in the Netherlands [ 83 ]).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Due to seasonal fluctuations in climate and day length, ecosystems at higher latitudes and in continental habitats are characterized by large seasonal changes in ecologically important parameters such as temperature and the availability of food [ 25 ]. Correlated with these variations, most mammals dwelling in such habitats show seasonal changes in breeding activity [ 25 , 26 ], including seasonal variations in litter size [ 27 – 29 ] and offspring body mass at birth [ 30 , 31 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Maternal effects on reproduction in the precocial European hare (Lepus europaeus)

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In female mammals, reproduction, and in particular lactation, is the energetically most exigent life-history phase. Reproduction is strongly controlled by body reserves and food availability, so females with better body condition or food supply are believed to have higher reproductive output. Additionally, the growth and mortality of young mammals depends on their postnatal development. Therefore, the degree of precociality affects energetic demands for both mothers and young. To study the reproductive performance of the precocial European hare (Lepus europaeus), we analysed relationships between six predictor variables describing maternal and environmental effects and nine response variables relating to reproduction from 217 captive females. We compared the data with those of precocial and altricial mammal species from an extensive literature search. For hares, we found: (1) Heavier females had heavier litters at birth. (2) In summer and spring, total litter mass was larger than in winter. (3) At the end of lactation, the litters of multiparous females were heavier than those of primiparous females. (4) Both older females and females giving birth for the first time had relatively high leveret mortality during lactation. Comparing our results with the literature for other mammals revealed that the body condition (i.e., body mass) of females before birth is predictive of reproductive parameters in both precocial and altricial species. In the precocial hare, female body condition is no longer predictive of reproductive parameters at the end of lactation, whereas in altricial species, female body condition remains predictive of reproduction (litter mass at the end of lactation, offspring mortality) until the end of lactation. We conclude that these effects are caused by precocial offspring feeding on solid food soon after birth and, thus, being less dependent on the mother’s body condition during lactation than altricial offspring. In line with this, precociality might have evolved as a way of buffering offspring against maternal effects.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal effects on reproduction in the precocial European hare (Lepus europaeus)

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Zebra Finch, living in an ecologically unpredictable environment with an extended breeding period [23], seems more likely to be an income breeder, tailoring its investment with concurrently acquired resource availability [25]. However, in reality, these two investment strategies are best considered as two extremes of a continuum [26], and indeed some species switch between the two depending on ecological conditions [27]. It would be useful to identify the nutritional conditions that trigger reproduction and investment decisions in the Zebra Finch, and how the species fits in the paradigm of capital and income breeding.…”

Section: Food Quality/abundance Reproductive Success and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ecology of the Zebra Finch Makes It a Great Laboratory Model but an Outlier amongst Passerine Birds

Griffith

Ton

Hurley

et al. 2021

Birds

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Zebra Finches have become the most widely researched bird species outside of those used in agricultural production. Their adoption as the avian model of choice is largely down to a number of characteristics that make them easy to obtain and use in captivity. The main point of our paper is that the very characteristics that make the Zebra Finch a highly amenable laboratory model species mean that it is by definition different from many other passerine birds, and therefore not a good general model for many research areas. The Zebra Finch is likely to be particularly resilient to the effects of stress early in life, and is likely to show great flexibility in dealing with a wide variety of conditions later in life. Whilst it is tempting for researchers to turn to species such as the Zebra Finch, that can be the focus of manipulative work in the laboratory, we caution that the findings of such studies may confound our understanding of general avian biology. The Zebra Finch will remain an excellent species for laboratory work, and our paper should help to direct and interpret future work in the laboratory and the field.

show abstract

“…g . DiBitetti and Janson 2000, see also MacKay et al 2018 in Eastern grey kangaroo Macropus giganteus ). Notwithstanding such limitations, we could find several metrics that meet our expectations of a good metric for each phenology characteristic (Table 2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Circular statistics could be prioritized to answer the difficulties linked to the selection of temporal origin, as it is frequently done in primate literature (e.g. DiBitetti and Janson 2000, see also MacKay et al 2018 in Eastern grey kangaroo Macropus giganteus). Notwithstanding such limitations, we could find several metrics that meet our expectations of a good metric for each phenology characteristic (Table 2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to describe and measure phenology? An investigation on the diversity of metrics using phenology of births in large herbivores

Thel

Chamaillé‐Jammes

Bonenfant

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Proposed in 1849 by Charles Morren to depict periodical phenomena governed by seasons, the term ″phenology″ has spread in many fields, from evolutionary to molecular biology. The adoption of the concept of phenology in such diverse fields has been associated with the creation of a wide diversity of metrics, and we believe, some confusion about what they measure. Here, as an example and to offer some perspective, we studied phenology of births in large herbivores and we identified 52 metrics that were previously used to quantify phenology. We conducted a quantitative analysis of these metrics based on simulations. We compared and classified the metrics using a correlation matrix, and we evaluated the ability of each metric to capture the variation of a set of phenological characteristics via a sensitivity analysis. We finally scored each metric according to eight criteria we thought were important to describe phenology well. We highlight the fact that four characteristics of phenology are important and can be clearly defined: timing, synchrony, rhythmicity and regularity. We also report on the high correlations that can usually be observed among the metrics corresponding to each of the four characteristics of phenology, suggesting that such diversity of metrics is not useful. Additionally, we show that the best metrics are not necessarily the most commonly used and that simpler is often better: easy to implement metrics often got the best scores. We give some guidelines and advice, in order to facilitate repeatability and comparison of phenology between studies. We also discuss some pitfalls to avoid when choosing a metric. We trust our study can facilitate the use of well-defined and robust concepts and metrics in studies of phenology, for instance in the context of global change effects on populations.

show abstract

Maternal resource allocation adjusts to timing of parturition in an asynchronous breeder

Cited by 16 publications

References 64 publications

Maternal effects on reproduction in the precocial European hare (Lepus europaeus)

Maternal effects on reproduction in the precocial European hare (Lepus europaeus)

The Ecology of the Zebra Finch Makes It a Great Laboratory Model but an Outlier amongst Passerine Birds

How to describe and measure phenology? An investigation on the diversity of metrics using phenology of births in large herbivores

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About