Offspring growth, survival and reproductive success in the bank vole: a litter size manipulation experiment

Oecologia ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esa Koskela
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
Bank Vole ◽  
Litter Size Manipulation ◽  
Offspring Growth ◽  
Manipulation Experiment

scholarly journals Effects of litter size on pup defence and weaning success of neighbouring bank vole females

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pernilla Jonsson ◽  
Jep Agrell ◽  
Esa Koskela ◽  
Tapio Mappes
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
Bank Vole ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clethrionomys Glareolus ◽  
Bank Voles ◽  
Litter Size Manipulation

Reproductive success of territorial female mammals depends partly on their capability to defend their young from conspecific intruders. However, how this is related to the characteristics of females and their litter sizes is largely unknown. The defence activity of 25 female bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) in relation to the number of offspring was studied in a behavioural arena by manipulating litter sizes (–2 pups or +2 pups). Infanticidal male bank voles were used as intruders–predators. Moreover, the weaning success (weaned at least one offspring or none) of 15 pairs of neighbouring females was investigated in a large indoor runway system. In each pair of females, the litter size of one female was reduced (–2 pups) and the litter size of the other enlarged (+2 pups). Defence activity of females increased with the number of offspring and the mother's size. However, weaning success of neighbours was related only to their body mass, and litter-size manipulation did not affect weaning success. Present results indicate that, although bank vole females increase their defence intensity with an increase in the number of pups, the weaning success of neighbouring females may be primarily determined by their size and dominance rank.

Determinants of reproductive success in voles: space use in relation to food and litter size manipulation

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 455-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pernilla Jonsson ◽  
Tommi Hartikainen ◽  
Esa Koskela ◽  
Tapio Mappes
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
Space Use ◽  
Litter Size Manipulation

scholarly journals Traffic noise exposure depresses plasma corticosterone and delays offspring growth in breeding zebra finches

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Anne Zollinger ◽  
Adriana Dorado-Correa ◽  
Wolfgang Goymann ◽  
Wolfgang Forstmeier ◽  
Ulrich Knief ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Noise Exposure ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Plasma Corticosterone ◽  
World Health ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Offspring Growth ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of human activity on the acoustic environment is overwhelming, with anthropogenic noise reaching even remote areas of the planet. The World Health Organization has identified noise pollution as one of the leading environmental health risks in humans, and it has been linked to a myriad of short- and long-term health effects in exposed individuals. However, less is known about the health effects of anthropogenic noise exposure on animals. We investigated long- and short-term effects of traffic noise on zebra finches breeding in small communal aviaries, using a repeated measures design. Birds bred in both noise and no-noise conditions, and we measured baseline plasma glucocorticoid levels before, during and after breeding. In addition, we assayed immune function, measured reproductive success and offspring growth and compared rates of extra-pair paternity of breeding adults. Breeding birds had significantly lower baseline plasma corticosterone levels when exposed to traffic noise than when they were not exposed to noise playback. In addition, the nestlings reared during noise exposure were lighter than nestlings of the same parents when breeding in control conditions. Our results suggest that traffic noise poses a more severe hurdle to birds at more vulnerable stages of their life history, such as during reproductive events and ontogeny. While chronic exposure to traffic noise in our birds did not, by itself, prove to be a sufficient stressor to cause acute effects on health or reproductive success in exposed individuals, it did result in disruptions to normal glucocorticoid profiles and delayed offspring growth. However, animals living in urban habitats are exposed to a multitude of anthropogenic disturbances, and it is likely that even species that appear to be thriving in noisy environments may suffer cumulative effects of these multiple disturbances that may together impact their fitness in urban environments.

Optimal litter size: Does it cost more to raise a large litter in Caluromys philander?

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 1511-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Atramentowicz
Keyword(s):  
Food Intake ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
Body Length ◽  
Weaning Food ◽  
Daily Food Intake ◽  
Litter Mass ◽  
Large Litter ◽  
Daily Food ◽  
Optimal Litter Size

Food intake of lactating Caluromys philander, a didelphid marsupial, was recorded from parturition until weaning of the pouch young. Variation in the average caloric value of daily food intake throughout lactation, in relation to litter size, showed no significant differences, but females increased food intake during late lactation, prior to weaning. Food intake was positively correlated with total litter mass at weaning. Moreover, there were significant differences in body mass and body length of offspring at first pouch exit (3 months) and at weaning (4 months): young born in small litters (1–3) were bigger than those born in large litters (6–7). Reproductive success is discussed on the assumption that pouch-young survival depends on food resources.

scholarly journals Early experience and parent-of-origin-specific effects influence female reproductive success in mice

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinmar Hager ◽  
Rufus A Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Female Reproductive Success ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Mixed Litter ◽  
Offspring Growth ◽  
Parent Of Origin

Recent studies on mammals investigating parent-of-origin-specific effects such as genomic imprinting and maternal effects have demonstrated their impact on short-term measures of fitness, for example offspring growth. However, the long-term fitness consequences of parent-of-origin-specific effects and their role outside the immediate mother–offspring interaction remain largely unexplored. Here, we show that female mice mated to males that inherited the same set of paternal and maternal genes as themselves have a higher reproductive success than females mated to males of reciprocal genotype. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the early social environment experienced by an individual influences its reproductive success. Females raised with unrelated siblings in a mixed litter had a subsequent lower reproductive success than those that were fostered together with all their biological siblings in unmixed litters. Our results highlight the important influence of parent-of-origin-specific effects and conditions in early development on long-term reproductive success in mammals and suggest that parent-of-origin-specific effects may provide the underlying mechanism for beneficial coadaptation between genotypes, for example, in mate choice.

scholarly journals Short- and long-term effects of litter size manipulation in a small wild-derived rodent

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 20131096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikko Lehto Hürlimann ◽  
Antoine Stier ◽  
Olivier Scholly ◽  
François Criscuolo ◽  
Pierre Bize
Keyword(s):  
Litter Size ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Common Vole ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Litter Size Manipulation ◽  
Laboratory Rodents ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Long Term Consequences

Iteroparous organisms maximize their overall fitness by optimizing their reproductive effort over multiple reproductive events. Hence, changes in reproductive effort are expected to have both short- and long-term consequences on parents and their offspring. In laboratory rodents, manipulation of reproductive efforts during lactation has however revealed few short-term reproductive adjustments, suggesting that female laboratory rodents express maximal rather than optimal levels of reproductive investment as observed in semelparous organisms. Using a litter size manipulation (LSM) experiment in a small wild-derived rodent (the common vole; Microtus arvalis ), we show that females altered their reproductive efforts in response to LSM, with females having higher metabolic rates and showing alternative body mass dynamics when rearing an enlarged rather than reduced litter. Those differences in female reproductive effort were nonetheless insufficient to fully match their pups’ energy demand, pups being lighter at weaning in enlarged litters. Interestingly, female reproductive effort changes had long-term consequences, with females that had previously reared an enlarged litter being lighter at the birth of their subsequent litter and producing lower quality pups. We discuss the significance of using wild-derived animals in studies of reproductive effort optimization.

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