Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient
In northern environments, the period of access to high-quality forage is limited, exerting strong selective pressure to optimize the timing of parturition. We analysed timing and variation in moose ( Alces alces ) parturition dates of 555 females at 18 study sites across 12° of latitude (56–68° N, 1...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 2024-09-15T17:36:14+00:00 Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient Neumann, Wiebke Singh, Navinder J. Stenbacka, Fredrik Malmsten, Jonas Wallin, Kjell Ball, John P. Ericsson, Göran 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/-/media/journals/author/Licence-to-Publish-20062019-final.pdf https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 16, issue 6, page 20200044 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2020 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 2024-09-02T04:21:04Z In northern environments, the period of access to high-quality forage is limited, exerting strong selective pressure to optimize the timing of parturition. We analysed timing and variation in moose ( Alces alces ) parturition dates of 555 females at 18 study sites across 12° of latitude (56–68° N, 1350 km) in Sweden. We found evidence for a spatial match of parturition timing to vegetation onset, but no evidence that moose adjust parturition to vegetation onset in a given year. We found a breakpoint at 64° N. Despite adaptation across latitudes, temporal divergences occurred. Females below 64° N calved after vegetation onset and females above 64° N calved before. Here, parturition before vegetation onset might be a strategy to optimize forage utilization time with the very short growing season. Highly seasonal environments such as at higher latitudes may make it advantageous to adapt parturition towards long-term climatic patterns by matching the most favourable period. Given the direction of temporal divergence, our study suggests that climate change may have less of an impact on moose parturition at northern latitudes than southern latitudes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces The Royal Society Biology Letters 16 6 20200044 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
In northern environments, the period of access to high-quality forage is limited, exerting strong selective pressure to optimize the timing of parturition. We analysed timing and variation in moose ( Alces alces ) parturition dates of 555 females at 18 study sites across 12° of latitude (56–68° N, 1350 km) in Sweden. We found evidence for a spatial match of parturition timing to vegetation onset, but no evidence that moose adjust parturition to vegetation onset in a given year. We found a breakpoint at 64° N. Despite adaptation across latitudes, temporal divergences occurred. Females below 64° N calved after vegetation onset and females above 64° N calved before. Here, parturition before vegetation onset might be a strategy to optimize forage utilization time with the very short growing season. Highly seasonal environments such as at higher latitudes may make it advantageous to adapt parturition towards long-term climatic patterns by matching the most favourable period. Given the direction of temporal divergence, our study suggests that climate change may have less of an impact on moose parturition at northern latitudes than southern latitudes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Neumann, Wiebke Singh, Navinder J. Stenbacka, Fredrik Malmsten, Jonas Wallin, Kjell Ball, John P. Ericsson, Göran |
spellingShingle |
Neumann, Wiebke Singh, Navinder J. Stenbacka, Fredrik Malmsten, Jonas Wallin, Kjell Ball, John P. Ericsson, Göran Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient |
author_facet |
Neumann, Wiebke Singh, Navinder J. Stenbacka, Fredrik Malmsten, Jonas Wallin, Kjell Ball, John P. Ericsson, Göran |
author_sort |
Neumann, Wiebke |
title |
Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient |
title_short |
Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient |
title_full |
Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient |
title_fullStr |
Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient |
title_full_unstemmed |
Divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient |
title_sort |
divergence in parturition timing and vegetation onset in a large herbivore—differences along a latitudinal gradient |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 16, issue 6, page 20200044 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/-/media/journals/author/Licence-to-Publish-20062019-final.pdf https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0044 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
20200044 |
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1810488102588776448 |