Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal
Life history theory predicts allocation of energy to reproduction varies with maternal age, but additional maternal features may be important to the allocation of energy to reproduction. We aimed to characterize age‐specific variation in maternal allocation and assess the relationship between matern...
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ftmontanastateu:oai:scholarworks.montana.edu:1/16121 2023-05-15T18:43:22+02:00 Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal Macdonald, Kaitlin R. Rotella, Jay J. Garrott, Robert A. Link, William A. 2020-06 application/pdf https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/16121 en_US eng Macdonald, Kaitlin R., Jay J. Rotella, Robert A. Garrott, and William A. Link. “Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal.” Edited by David Koons. Journal of Animal Ecology 89, no. 8 (June 29, 2020): 1927–1940. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13243. 0021-8790 https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/16121 © This published version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Article 2020 ftmontanastateu https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13243 2022-06-06T07:24:05Z Life history theory predicts allocation of energy to reproduction varies with maternal age, but additional maternal features may be important to the allocation of energy to reproduction. We aimed to characterize age‐specific variation in maternal allocation and assess the relationship between maternal allocation and other static and dynamic maternal features. Mass measurements of 531 mothers and pups were used with Bayesian hierarchical models to explain the relationship between diverse maternal attributes and both the proportion of mass allocated by Weddell seal mothers, and the efficiency of mass transfer from mother to pup during lactation as well as the weaning mass of pups. Our results demonstrated that maternal mass was strongly and positively associated with the relative reserves allocated by a mother and a pup's weaning mass but that the efficiency of mass transfer declines with maternal parturition mass. Birthdate was positively associated with proportion mass allocation and pup weaning mass, but mass transfer efficiency was predicted to be highest at the mean birthdate. The relative allocation of maternal reserves declined with maternal age but the efficiency of mass transfer to pups increases, suggestive of selective disappearance of poor‐quality mothers. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple maternal features when assessing variation in maternal allocation. Life history predictions were evaluated using a long‐term dataset to characterize age‐specific variation in maternal allocation and the relationship between maternal allocation and other maternal attributes. Results demonstrated evidence for selective disappearance in a long‐lived capital breeder and the importance of including additional maternal attributes when assessing these questions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Weddell Seal Montana State University (MSU): ScholarWorks Weddell Journal of Animal Ecology 89 8 1927 1940 |
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Montana State University (MSU): ScholarWorks |
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ftmontanastateu |
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English |
description |
Life history theory predicts allocation of energy to reproduction varies with maternal age, but additional maternal features may be important to the allocation of energy to reproduction. We aimed to characterize age‐specific variation in maternal allocation and assess the relationship between maternal allocation and other static and dynamic maternal features. Mass measurements of 531 mothers and pups were used with Bayesian hierarchical models to explain the relationship between diverse maternal attributes and both the proportion of mass allocated by Weddell seal mothers, and the efficiency of mass transfer from mother to pup during lactation as well as the weaning mass of pups. Our results demonstrated that maternal mass was strongly and positively associated with the relative reserves allocated by a mother and a pup's weaning mass but that the efficiency of mass transfer declines with maternal parturition mass. Birthdate was positively associated with proportion mass allocation and pup weaning mass, but mass transfer efficiency was predicted to be highest at the mean birthdate. The relative allocation of maternal reserves declined with maternal age but the efficiency of mass transfer to pups increases, suggestive of selective disappearance of poor‐quality mothers. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple maternal features when assessing variation in maternal allocation. Life history predictions were evaluated using a long‐term dataset to characterize age‐specific variation in maternal allocation and the relationship between maternal allocation and other maternal attributes. Results demonstrated evidence for selective disappearance in a long‐lived capital breeder and the importance of including additional maternal attributes when assessing these questions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Macdonald, Kaitlin R. Rotella, Jay J. Garrott, Robert A. Link, William A. |
spellingShingle |
Macdonald, Kaitlin R. Rotella, Jay J. Garrott, Robert A. Link, William A. Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal |
author_facet |
Macdonald, Kaitlin R. Rotella, Jay J. Garrott, Robert A. Link, William A. |
author_sort |
Macdonald, Kaitlin R. |
title |
Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal |
title_short |
Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal |
title_full |
Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal |
title_fullStr |
Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal |
title_sort |
sources of variation in maternal allocation in a long‐lived mammal |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/16121 |
geographic |
Weddell |
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Weddell |
genre |
Weddell Seal |
genre_facet |
Weddell Seal |
op_relation |
Macdonald, Kaitlin R., Jay J. Rotella, Robert A. Garrott, and William A. Link. “Sources of Variation in Maternal Allocation in a Long‐lived Mammal.” Edited by David Koons. Journal of Animal Ecology 89, no. 8 (June 29, 2020): 1927–1940. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13243. 0021-8790 https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/16121 |
op_rights |
© This published version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13243 |
container_title |
Journal of Animal Ecology |
container_volume |
89 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1927 |
op_container_end_page |
1940 |
_version_ |
1766233751701946368 |