Paternal Care in Collared Lemmings (Dicrostonyx richardsoni): Artifact or Adaptation?

• Main Authors: Anna Maria (tuchscherer Gajdal, Ronald J. Brooks
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Arctic; Dicrostonyx richardsoni
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.513.446; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic46-4-312.pdf

ABSTRACT. Experiments conducted in large enclosures using 13 pairs of collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx richardsoni) and their pups examined the effects of three different treatments on paternal care. Treatments tested whether males altered their attentiveness to the pups when certainty of paternity was in question (through presence of a strange male), when alternative activities were available (through access to a running wheel), and when both factors were present simultaneously. Males covered and groomed pups equally among treatments. During the first five days of observation, males with access to a running wheel paid significantly less attention to strange males relative to males without access to a running wheel. Continuous exposure to the strange male may have been responsible for this short-term effect. Since covering and grooming of pups were unaffected by the presence of a strange male, the fathers ’ perceptions of their certainty of paternity were probably unaffected. Maintenance of paternal care under diffferent conditions and in large enclosures provides further evidence that paternal care is not an artifact of laboratory conditions. Paternal care in collared lemmings may have evolved to maximize fitness of both sexes during winter. Key words: collared lemming, paternal care, winter breeding, fitness RÉSUMÉ. Des expériences menees dans de grands enclos, et mettant en jeu 13 couples de lemmings à collerette (Dicrostonyx richardsonii) et leurs petits, kvaluaient les effets de 3 traitements diffkrents sur les soins paternels. Ces traitements vtrifiaient si les mâles modifiaient l’attention qu’ils portaient à leurs petits lorsque leur paternite etait mise en doute (par la presence d’un mâle etranger), lorsque d’autres activitks &aient disponibles (par l’acc8s àune roue d’exercice), et lorsque ces 2 facteurs etaient pdsents en même temps. Les mâles protkgeaient