Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder
Abstract. Nitrogen (N) is a limiting nutrient for many herbivores, especially when plant availability and N content are low during the period of maternal investment, which is common for arctic ungulates. We used natural abundance of N isotopes to quantify allocation of maternal nitrogen to neonatal...
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ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.1044.9721 2023-05-15T15:17:06+02:00 Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder Joe¨lle Taillon Perry S Barboza Steeve D Côte´1 The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives 2013 application/pdf http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1044.9721 http://www.caribou-ungava.ulaval.ca/fileadmin/documents/Articles_PDF/Taillon_et_al._2013_Ecology.pdf en eng http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1044.9721 http://www.caribou-ungava.ulaval.ca/fileadmin/documents/Articles_PDF/Taillon_et_al._2013_Ecology.pdf Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. http://www.caribou-ungava.ulaval.ca/fileadmin/documents/Articles_PDF/Taillon_et_al._2013_Ecology.pdf text 2013 ftciteseerx 2020-04-05T00:16:54Z Abstract. Nitrogen (N) is a limiting nutrient for many herbivores, especially when plant availability and N content are low during the period of maternal investment, which is common for arctic ungulates. We used natural abundance of N isotopes to quantify allocation of maternal nitrogen to neonatal calves and milk in wild migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus). We contrasted female-calf pairs from two herds in northern Quebec/Labrador, Canada: Rivie`re-George herd (RG; low population size with heavy calves) and the Rivie`re-aux-Feuilles herd (RAF; high population size and small calves). We assessed whether females of both herds relied on body protein or dietary N to produce the neonatal calf and milk at calving and weaning. Female caribou of both herds relied mostly on body N for fetal development. RAF females allocated less body N to calves than did RG females (92% vs. 95% of calf N), which was consistent with the production of calves that were 8% smaller in RAF than in RG. Allocation of body N to milk was also high for both herds, similar at calving for RAF and RG females (88% vs. 91% of milk N, respectively), but lower in RAF than RG females (95% vs. 99% of milk N) at weaning, which was consistent with a small but significantly greater reliance on dietary N supplies to support milk production at weaning. Female caribou used body protein stores to ensure a constant supply of N for fetal growth and milk production that minimized the effects of trophic mismatches on reproduction. The combination of migration and capital investment may therefore allow females to produce calves and attenuate the effects of both temporal and spatial mismatches between vegetation green-up and calf growth, which ultimately would reduce trophic feedbacks on population growth. Our data suggest that small changes in maternal allocation of proteins over the long period of gestation produce significant changes in calf mass as females respond to changes in resources that accompany changes in the size and distribution of the population. Text Arctic Rangifer tarandus Unknown Arctic Canada |
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ftciteseerx |
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English |
description |
Abstract. Nitrogen (N) is a limiting nutrient for many herbivores, especially when plant availability and N content are low during the period of maternal investment, which is common for arctic ungulates. We used natural abundance of N isotopes to quantify allocation of maternal nitrogen to neonatal calves and milk in wild migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus). We contrasted female-calf pairs from two herds in northern Quebec/Labrador, Canada: Rivie`re-George herd (RG; low population size with heavy calves) and the Rivie`re-aux-Feuilles herd (RAF; high population size and small calves). We assessed whether females of both herds relied on body protein or dietary N to produce the neonatal calf and milk at calving and weaning. Female caribou of both herds relied mostly on body N for fetal development. RAF females allocated less body N to calves than did RG females (92% vs. 95% of calf N), which was consistent with the production of calves that were 8% smaller in RAF than in RG. Allocation of body N to milk was also high for both herds, similar at calving for RAF and RG females (88% vs. 91% of milk N, respectively), but lower in RAF than RG females (95% vs. 99% of milk N) at weaning, which was consistent with a small but significantly greater reliance on dietary N supplies to support milk production at weaning. Female caribou used body protein stores to ensure a constant supply of N for fetal growth and milk production that minimized the effects of trophic mismatches on reproduction. The combination of migration and capital investment may therefore allow females to produce calves and attenuate the effects of both temporal and spatial mismatches between vegetation green-up and calf growth, which ultimately would reduce trophic feedbacks on population growth. Our data suggest that small changes in maternal allocation of proteins over the long period of gestation produce significant changes in calf mass as females respond to changes in resources that accompany changes in the size and distribution of the population. |
author2 |
The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives |
format |
Text |
author |
Joe¨lle Taillon Perry S Barboza Steeve D Côte´1 |
spellingShingle |
Joe¨lle Taillon Perry S Barboza Steeve D Côte´1 Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder |
author_facet |
Joe¨lle Taillon Perry S Barboza Steeve D Côte´1 |
author_sort |
Joe¨lle Taillon |
title |
Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder |
title_short |
Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder |
title_full |
Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder |
title_fullStr |
Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder |
title_sort |
nitrogen allocation to offspring and milk production in a capital breeder |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1044.9721 http://www.caribou-ungava.ulaval.ca/fileadmin/documents/Articles_PDF/Taillon_et_al._2013_Ecology.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
http://www.caribou-ungava.ulaval.ca/fileadmin/documents/Articles_PDF/Taillon_et_al._2013_Ecology.pdf |
op_relation |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1044.9721 http://www.caribou-ungava.ulaval.ca/fileadmin/documents/Articles_PDF/Taillon_et_al._2013_Ecology.pdf |
op_rights |
Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. |
_version_ |
1766347369529475072 |