Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species

Abstract Species following a fast life history are expected to express fitness costs mainly as increased mortality, while slow‐lived species should suffer fertility costs. Because observational studies have limited power to disentangle intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing senescence, we manip...

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Main Authors: Fritz Trillmich, Edda Geißler, Anja Guenther
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-06-01
Series:Ecology and Evolution
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5272
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spelling doaj-5f3bb89644aa49c38434a7866ac6e39e2021-04-02T10:57:54ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582019-06-019127069707910.1002/ece3.5272Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial speciesFritz Trillmich0Edda Geißler1Anja Guenther2Animal Behaviour University of Bielefeld Bielefeld GermanyAnimal Behaviour University of Bielefeld Bielefeld GermanyAnimal Behaviour University of Bielefeld Bielefeld GermanyAbstract Species following a fast life history are expected to express fitness costs mainly as increased mortality, while slow‐lived species should suffer fertility costs. Because observational studies have limited power to disentangle intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing senescence, we manipulated reproductive effort experimentally in the cavy (Cavia aperea) which produces extremely precocial young. We created two experimental groups: One was allowed continuous reproduction (CR) and the other intermittent reproduction (IR) by removing males at regular intervals. We predicted that the CR females should senesce (and die) earlier and produce either fewer and/or smaller, slower growing offspring per litter than those of the IR group. CR females had 16% more litters during three years than IR females. CR females increased mass and body condition more steeply and both remained higher until the experiment ended. Female survival showed no group difference. Reproductive senescence in litter size, litter mass, and reproductive effort (litter mass/maternal mass) began after about 600 days and was slightly stronger in CR than IR females. Litter size, litter mass, and offspring survival declined with maternal age and were influenced by seasonality. IR females decreased reproductive effort less during cold seasons and only at higher age than CR females. Nevertheless, offspring winter mortality was higher in IR females. Our results show small costs of reproduction despite high reproductive effort, suggesting that under ad libitum food conditions costs depend largely on internal regulation of allocation decisions.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5272postnatal development and mortalityreproductive effortreproductive seasonalityreproductive senescencetrade‐off
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Fritz Trillmich
Edda Geißler
Anja Guenther
spellingShingle Fritz Trillmich
Edda Geißler
Anja Guenther
Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species
Ecology and Evolution
postnatal development and mortality
reproductive effort
reproductive seasonality
reproductive senescence
trade‐off
author_facet Fritz Trillmich
Edda Geißler
Anja Guenther
author_sort Fritz Trillmich
title Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species
title_short Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species
title_full Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species
title_fullStr Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species
title_full_unstemmed Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species
title_sort senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species
publisher Wiley
series Ecology and Evolution
issn 2045-7758
publishDate 2019-06-01
description Abstract Species following a fast life history are expected to express fitness costs mainly as increased mortality, while slow‐lived species should suffer fertility costs. Because observational studies have limited power to disentangle intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing senescence, we manipulated reproductive effort experimentally in the cavy (Cavia aperea) which produces extremely precocial young. We created two experimental groups: One was allowed continuous reproduction (CR) and the other intermittent reproduction (IR) by removing males at regular intervals. We predicted that the CR females should senesce (and die) earlier and produce either fewer and/or smaller, slower growing offspring per litter than those of the IR group. CR females had 16% more litters during three years than IR females. CR females increased mass and body condition more steeply and both remained higher until the experiment ended. Female survival showed no group difference. Reproductive senescence in litter size, litter mass, and reproductive effort (litter mass/maternal mass) began after about 600 days and was slightly stronger in CR than IR females. Litter size, litter mass, and offspring survival declined with maternal age and were influenced by seasonality. IR females decreased reproductive effort less during cold seasons and only at higher age than CR females. Nevertheless, offspring winter mortality was higher in IR females. Our results show small costs of reproduction despite high reproductive effort, suggesting that under ad libitum food conditions costs depend largely on internal regulation of allocation decisions.
topic postnatal development and mortality
reproductive effort
reproductive seasonality
reproductive senescence
trade‐off
url https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5272
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