THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY
Body size at birth has implications for the quality of individuals throughout their life. Although large body size is generally considered an advantage, the relationship between body size at birth and long-term fitness is often complicated. Under spatial or temporal variation in environmental condit...
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The Society for the Study of Evolution
2007
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x |
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ftbioone:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x 2024-06-02T08:06:32+00:00 THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY Tuula A. Oksanen Minna Koivula Esa Koskela Tapio Mappes Tuula A. Oksanen Minna Koivula Esa Koskela Tapio Mappes world 2007-12-01 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x en eng The Society for the Study of Evolution doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x Text 2007 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x 2024-05-07T00:59:41Z Body size at birth has implications for the quality of individuals throughout their life. Although large body size is generally considered an advantage, the relationship between body size at birth and long-term fitness is often complicated. Under spatial or temporal variation in environmental conditions, such as the seasonally changing densities of Fennoscandian vole populations, selection should favor variation in offspring phenotypes, as different qualities may be beneficial in different conditions. We performed an experiment in which a novel hormonal manipulation method was used to increase phenotypic variance in body size at birth in the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). The effects of body size on the future fitness of young males and females were then studied at varying population densities in outdoor enclosures. Our results show that small body size at birth and high breeding density increase the survival costs of reproduction. However, there was no interaction between the effects of body size and density on survival, which suggests that the fitness effects of body size were strong enough to persist under environmental variation. Moreover, litter size and the probability of breeding were more sensitive to variation in breeding density than offspring size. Therefore, it is unlikely that individual fitness could be optimized by adjusting offspring body size to the prevailing population density through adaptive maternal effects. Our results highlight the significance of the costs of reproduction in the evolution of life-history traits, and give strong experimental support for the long-term fitness effects of body size at birth. Text Fennoscandian BioOne Online Journals Evolution 61 12 2822 2831 |
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English |
description |
Body size at birth has implications for the quality of individuals throughout their life. Although large body size is generally considered an advantage, the relationship between body size at birth and long-term fitness is often complicated. Under spatial or temporal variation in environmental conditions, such as the seasonally changing densities of Fennoscandian vole populations, selection should favor variation in offspring phenotypes, as different qualities may be beneficial in different conditions. We performed an experiment in which a novel hormonal manipulation method was used to increase phenotypic variance in body size at birth in the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). The effects of body size on the future fitness of young males and females were then studied at varying population densities in outdoor enclosures. Our results show that small body size at birth and high breeding density increase the survival costs of reproduction. However, there was no interaction between the effects of body size and density on survival, which suggests that the fitness effects of body size were strong enough to persist under environmental variation. Moreover, litter size and the probability of breeding were more sensitive to variation in breeding density than offspring size. Therefore, it is unlikely that individual fitness could be optimized by adjusting offspring body size to the prevailing population density through adaptive maternal effects. Our results highlight the significance of the costs of reproduction in the evolution of life-history traits, and give strong experimental support for the long-term fitness effects of body size at birth. |
author2 |
Tuula A. Oksanen Minna Koivula Esa Koskela Tapio Mappes |
format |
Text |
author |
Tuula A. Oksanen Minna Koivula Esa Koskela Tapio Mappes |
spellingShingle |
Tuula A. Oksanen Minna Koivula Esa Koskela Tapio Mappes THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY |
author_facet |
Tuula A. Oksanen Minna Koivula Esa Koskela Tapio Mappes |
author_sort |
Tuula A. Oksanen |
title |
THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY |
title_short |
THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY |
title_full |
THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY |
title_fullStr |
THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY |
title_full_unstemmed |
THE COST OF REPRODUCTION INDUCED BY BODY SIZE AT BIRTH AND BREEDING DENSITY |
title_sort |
cost of reproduction induced by body size at birth and breeding density |
publisher |
The Society for the Study of Evolution |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x |
op_coverage |
world |
genre |
Fennoscandian |
genre_facet |
Fennoscandian |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x |
op_relation |
doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00245.x |
container_title |
Evolution |
container_volume |
61 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
2822 |
op_container_end_page |
2831 |
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1800751493990580224 |