Age-specific cost of first reproduction in female southern elephant seals.
Biol Lett
; 10(5): 20140264, 2014 May.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24872464
ABSTRACT
When to commence breeding is a crucial life-history decision that may be the most important determinant of an individual's lifetime reproductive output and can have major consequences on population dynamics. The age at which individuals first reproduce is an important factor influencing the intensity of potential costs (e.g. reduced survival) involved in the first breeding event. However, quantifying age-related variation in the cost of first reproduction in wild animals remains challenging because of the difficulty in reliably recording the first breeding event. Here, using a multi-event capture-recapture model that accounts for both imperfect detection and uncertainty in the breeding status on an 18-year dataset involving 6637 individuals, we estimated age and state-specific survival of female elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in the declining Macquarie Island population. We detected a clear cost of first reproduction on survival. This cost was higher for both younger first-time breeders and older first-time breeders compared with females recruiting at age four, the overall mean age at first reproduction. Neither earlier primiparity nor delaying primiparity appear to confer any evolutionary advantage, rather the optimal strategy seems to be to start breeding at a single age, 4 years.
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Texto completo:
1
Temas:
ECOS
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Financiamentos_gastos
Bases de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Reprodução
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Focas Verdadeiras
Tipo de estudo:
Health_economic_evaluation
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Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Biol Lett
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2014
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Austrália