Multiple captures of fulvous harvest mice (Reithrodontomys fulvescens) and northern pygmy mice (Baiomys taylori): evidence for short-term co-traveling

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-319
Author(s):  
N.S. Green ◽  
C.E. Early ◽  
L.K. Beard ◽  
K.T. Wilkins

Multiple captures of small mammals (finding >1 animal in a single trap) are often used to infer pair-bonding activity in arvicoline and cricetine rodents. We analyzed data from a 2-year trapping study to determine whether fulvous harvest mice ( Reithrodontomys fulvescens J.A. Allen, 1894) and (or) northern pygmy mice (Baiomys taylori (Thomas, 1887)) travel in mixed-sex mated pairs. A significant majority of multiple capture events (MCEs) in R. fulvescens were mixed-sex, whereas sex composition of pairs in B. taylori did not differ from random. Multiple capture probability was significantly positively related to abundance and unrelated to sex ratio in both species. Multiple captures of B. taylori were more common in winter, suggesting that individuals may associate to huddle for warmth. Masses of singly captured and multiply captured individuals were not significantly different in either species, contraindicating trap bias. Only one co-captured mixed-sex pair was recaptured as a pair (in R. fulvescens) and several animals of both sexes in both species were co-captured with multiple individuals. We concluded that R. fulvescens co-travels with mates for variable lengths of time, but we found no evidence that multiple captures of B. taylori are related to reproductive behavior.

Behaviour ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 104 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 202-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. Robinson

AbstractThe extent to which population demography determines the age and sex composition of primate groups was examined using data from a population of wedge-capped capuchin monkeys Cebus olivaceus in central Venezuela. Demographic parameters were derived from censuses of individually recognized, aged, and sexed individuals living in nine groups over a ten year period. Animals were aged by extrapolation from census data. Animals of both sexes were classed as infants during their first year, and juveniles until they reached six years of age. Females reach sexual maturity at this time, while males were classed as subadults until they reached full adult size at age 12. Adulthood lasts at least 30 years in females, at least 24 years in males. Age-sex class specific mortality and fecundity rates generated a life table which indicated that the population was increasing (r = 0.087) between 1977 and 1986. The age and sex composition of the nine groups was described annually. On average, non-adults made up 60% of a group, with this percentage increasing with group size. There were more females than males in all groups in all years. The strong female-biased adult sex ratio (1:4.4) was a consequence of a biased birth sex ratio (1:1.9), higher female than male survivorship especially between the ages of 3 and 7 when males were dispersing, and a pronounced sexual bimaturism. The stable age distribution derived from the life table successfully predicted the observed average distribution of age-sex categories in groups. This suggests that the group structure of Cebus olivaceus groups is not a consequence of intragroup social interactions, but results from demographic parameters.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 140402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Schacht ◽  
Monique Borgerhoff Mulder

Characterizations of coy females and ardent males are rooted in models of sexual selection that are increasingly outdated. Evolutionary feedbacks can strongly influence the sex roles and subsequent patterns of sex differentiated investment in mating effort, with a key component being the adult sex ratio (ASR). Using data from eight Makushi communities of southern Guyana, characterized by varying ASRs contingent on migration, we show that even within a single ethnic group, male mating effort varies in predictable ways with the ASR. At male-biased sex ratios, men's and women's investment in mating effort are indistinguishable; only when men are in the minority are they more inclined towards short-term, low investment relationships than women. Our results support the behavioural ecological tenet that reproductive strategies are predictable and contingent on varying situational factors.


2010 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon E. Lynn ◽  
Teresa B. Stamplis ◽  
William T. Barrington ◽  
Nicholas Weida ◽  
Casey A. Hudak

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosella Rettaroli ◽  
Francesco Scalone

A longitudinal, micro-level study of the effect of socioeconomic transformations on fertility mechanisms in the rural hinterland of Bologna between 1818 and 1900 (the beginning of the demographic transition) demonstrates that the premature death of a last-born child reduces the interval between two consecutive childbirths. Thus does it confirm the importance of breast-feeding in determining birth spacing. Women living in complex sharecropping households experienced a significantly higher risk of childbirth than did women in families headed by daily wage earners. In addition, the reproductive behavior of sharecroppers seemed to be substantially invariant to short-term fluctuations in prices, whereas the laborers' group experienced a negative price effect. Both descriptive and multivariate analyses indicate a slight and gradual decrease in fertility levels during the period in question.


2006 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Roa-Ureta ◽  
Alexander I. Arkhipkin

Abstract Roa-Ureta, R. and Arkhipkin, A. I. 2007. Short-term stock assessment of Loligo gahi at the Falkland Islands: sequential use of stochastic biomass projection and stock depletion models – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64, 3–17. Two short-term stock assessment models are combined to examine the pre-season, in-season, and post-season dynamics of the Loligo gahi fishery off the Falkland Islands over four consecutive fishing seasons. A stochastic biomass projection model (SBPM) projects a pre-season survey-based biomass estimate from the date of the survey to the start of the season. A stock depletion model (SDM) assesses in-season biomass from commercial daily catch-and-effort data. The SBPM projects the SDM biomass estimate at the end of the season to a post-season date of spawning. Combining the SBPM and the SDM helps to clarify the spatio-temporal functioning of the stock and to assess the comparability of survey- and fishery-based estimates of biomass. For the first 2005 season, projected length frequencies indicate two pulses of recruitment onto the fishing grounds. Survey-based projections of biomass were lower than equivalent fishery-based estimates. Over two surveys, the sex ratio was balanced, suggesting full recruitment of both sexes onto the fishing grounds, and the ratio of survey-projected to fishing-estimated biomass was constant. This constant is interpreted as a scaling factor between survey biomass and absolute biomass.


Author(s):  
JA McCann ◽  
W Teeters ◽  
DJ Urban ◽  
N Cook

1976 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 173 ◽  
Author(s):  
JL McKean ◽  
LW Braithwaite

Two samples of mountain ducks totalling 1001 birds were trapped and banded at Lake George,N.S.W. A highly significant difference in age structure between the two samples, taken in January 1965 and in February 1970, may be related to major differences in rainfall for the year preceding each sample. The sex ratio was markedly biased in favour of females. Recoveries of birds were nearly all to the south and west and 300-700 km from the banding site. Fully 99 % of recoveries were in States other than New South Wales. Examination of one sample of 679 mountain ducks for moult of primary and secondary wing feathers showed that approximately one-third of the adults were moulting. It was concluded that the birds were possibly normal residents of the region in which most recoveries occurred, and that they make an annual moult migration to Lake George.


1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Haggerty ◽  
Jeffrey T. Garner ◽  
George H. Patterson ◽  
Lannis C. Jones Jr.

Two hundred and thirty-three purple wartyback unionids (Cyclonaias tuberculata) were collected approximately monthly over a 31-month period from Kentucky Reservoir (Tennessee river mile 201.3), Tennessee, between August 1988 and February 1991. An equal sex ratio and only one case of hermaphroditism were discovered. Histological examinations showed that spermatogenesis and oogenesis occurred throughout the year except during late summer and early fall. "Typical" spermatogenesis was most evident between May and July. Spawning occurred between early spring (March–April) and late summer (August). Brooding variation among females was shown by the presence of embryos in the suprabranchial chambers and gills between early April and late August. Brooding was short term, as indicated by mature larvae being found in the outer demibranchs between early July and late August. Full demibranchs were never found, possibly indicating that the study took place during years of poor reproductive performance.


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