Persson, Jens
- Institutionen för naturvårdsbiologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
Sammanfattning
An individual has only a given amount of resources, and therefore an increase in one demographic trait results in a trade-off that necessitates a decrease in a different demographic trait. In general, the main factor determining an individual mammal's reproductive investment is food supply. This study addresses how female wolverine (Gulo gulo (L., 1758)) reproduction is limited. I tested two complementary hypotheses: (1) current reproduction is affected by the costs of reproduction in the preceding year and (2) current reproduction is affected by food availability in the current winter. I addressed the first hypothesis by comparing reproductive rates of females in relation to their reproductive effort in the preceding year. I experimentally tested the second hypothesis by comparing reproductive rates of food-supplemented females versus non-supplemented females. Reproduction incurred costs on female wolverines that affected future reproduction, and reproductive costs appeared to be related to the duration of parental care. Reproduction was higher for food-supplemented females than for non-supplemented females, even though all food-supplemented females had reproduced the preceding year. This study suggests that reproduction is limited by winter food availability and that additional food can compensate for reproductive costs. Thus, I suggest that female wolverine reproduction is determined by their condition in winter, which is a result of the combined effect of reproductive costs and winter food availability
Publicerad i
Canadian Journal of Zoology
2005, volym: 83, nummer: 11, sidor: 1453-1459
Utgivare: NATL RESEARCH COUNCIL CANADA
SLU författare
UKÄ forskningsämne
Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap
Publikationens identifierare
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/Z05-143
Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/6477