The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska
High-latitude arvicoline rodents usually reproduce in warmer months, but winter breeding has been documented in several species, including the northern red-backed vole ( Myodes rutilus (Pallas, 1779) Wilson and Reader, 2005; formerly Clethrionomys rutilus (Pallas, 1779)). We tested whether the repro...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z08-147 2023-12-17T10:26:23+01:00 The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska Stevenson, K.T. van Tets, I.G. Nay, L.A.I. 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z08-147 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/Z08-147 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/Z08-147 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 87, issue 2, page 152-164 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2009 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z08-147 2023-11-19T13:39:25Z High-latitude arvicoline rodents usually reproduce in warmer months, but winter breeding has been documented in several species, including the northern red-backed vole ( Myodes rutilus (Pallas, 1779) Wilson and Reader, 2005; formerly Clethrionomys rutilus (Pallas, 1779)). We tested whether the reproductive condition of the species is linked to changes in environmental parameters or its body condition, and we tested the frequencies at which different reproductive phenotypes are exhibited under field and laboratory conditions. Free-living voles in south-central Alaska reached peak reproductive organ masses in spring (females) and early summer (males). Between-subject comparisons showed an effect of body mass, photoperiod, percent fat, temperature, and snow depth on reproductive organ masses, depending on the sex and breeding period (p < 0.05). One instance of late-summer photoperiod nonresponsiveness was observed, but we detected no winter breeding. Captive male voles given food ad libitum and housed at room temperature exhibited strong phenotypic variation in testis mass in response to short photoperiods. The percentage of nonresponders was 28.2% and was within the known range of nonresponsiveness for lower latitude species (20%–40%). Thus, photoperiod nonresponsive morphs are conserved in at least one arctic and subarctic species at frequencies comparable to lower latitude voles despite no observance of winter breeding in the field. Voles exhibit reproductive elasticity and may breed in winter if environmental conditions enable them. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Subarctic Alaska Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Arctic Canadian Journal of Zoology 87 2 152 164 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Stevenson, K.T. van Tets, I.G. Nay, L.A.I. The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
High-latitude arvicoline rodents usually reproduce in warmer months, but winter breeding has been documented in several species, including the northern red-backed vole ( Myodes rutilus (Pallas, 1779) Wilson and Reader, 2005; formerly Clethrionomys rutilus (Pallas, 1779)). We tested whether the reproductive condition of the species is linked to changes in environmental parameters or its body condition, and we tested the frequencies at which different reproductive phenotypes are exhibited under field and laboratory conditions. Free-living voles in south-central Alaska reached peak reproductive organ masses in spring (females) and early summer (males). Between-subject comparisons showed an effect of body mass, photoperiod, percent fat, temperature, and snow depth on reproductive organ masses, depending on the sex and breeding period (p < 0.05). One instance of late-summer photoperiod nonresponsiveness was observed, but we detected no winter breeding. Captive male voles given food ad libitum and housed at room temperature exhibited strong phenotypic variation in testis mass in response to short photoperiods. The percentage of nonresponders was 28.2% and was within the known range of nonresponsiveness for lower latitude species (20%–40%). Thus, photoperiod nonresponsive morphs are conserved in at least one arctic and subarctic species at frequencies comparable to lower latitude voles despite no observance of winter breeding in the field. Voles exhibit reproductive elasticity and may breed in winter if environmental conditions enable them. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stevenson, K.T. van Tets, I.G. Nay, L.A.I. |
author_facet |
Stevenson, K.T. van Tets, I.G. Nay, L.A.I. |
author_sort |
Stevenson, K.T. |
title |
The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska |
title_short |
The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska |
title_full |
The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska |
title_fullStr |
The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
The seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) in Alaska |
title_sort |
seasonality of reproduction in photoperiod responsive and nonresponsive northern red-backed voles (myodes rutilus) in alaska |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z08-147 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/Z08-147 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/Z08-147 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Subarctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Subarctic Alaska |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 87, issue 2, page 152-164 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z08-147 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
87 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
152 |
op_container_end_page |
164 |
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1785578109692542976 |