Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal
Developmental differences in vital rates are especially profound in polygamous mating systems. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are highly dimorphic and extremely polygynous marine mammals. A demographic model, supported by long-term capture–mark–recapture records, investigated the influen...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:10031410 2023-05-15T16:05:43+02:00 Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal Volzke, Sophia Cleeland, Jaimie B. Hindell, Mark A. Corney, Stuart P. Wotherspoon, Simon J. McMahon, Clive R. 2023-03-22 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10031410/ https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221635 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10031410/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221635 © 2023 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. R Soc Open Sci Ecology Conservation and Global Change Biology Text 2023 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221635 2023-03-26T02:12:51Z Developmental differences in vital rates are especially profound in polygamous mating systems. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are highly dimorphic and extremely polygynous marine mammals. A demographic model, supported by long-term capture–mark–recapture records, investigated the influence of sex and age on survival in this species. The study revealed clear differences between female and male age-dependent survival rates. Overall juvenile survival estimates were stable around 80–85% for both sexes. However, male survival estimates were 5–10% lower than females in the same age classes until 8 years of age. At this point, male survival decreased rapidly to 50% ± 10% while female estimates remained constant at 80% ± 5%. Different energetic requirements could underpin intersex differences in adult survival. However, the species' strong sexual dimorphism diverges during early juvenile development when sex-specific survival rates were less distinct. Maximizing growth is especially advantageous for males, with size being a major determinant of breeding probability. Maturing males may employ a high-risk high-reward foraging strategy to compensate for extensive sexual selection pressures and sex-specific energetic needs. Our findings suggest sex-specific adult survival is a result of in situ ecological interactions and evolutionary specialization associated with being a highly polygynous marine predator. Text Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals PubMed Central (PMC) Royal Society Open Science 10 3 |
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English |
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Ecology Conservation and Global Change Biology |
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Ecology Conservation and Global Change Biology Volzke, Sophia Cleeland, Jaimie B. Hindell, Mark A. Corney, Stuart P. Wotherspoon, Simon J. McMahon, Clive R. Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal |
topic_facet |
Ecology Conservation and Global Change Biology |
description |
Developmental differences in vital rates are especially profound in polygamous mating systems. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are highly dimorphic and extremely polygynous marine mammals. A demographic model, supported by long-term capture–mark–recapture records, investigated the influence of sex and age on survival in this species. The study revealed clear differences between female and male age-dependent survival rates. Overall juvenile survival estimates were stable around 80–85% for both sexes. However, male survival estimates were 5–10% lower than females in the same age classes until 8 years of age. At this point, male survival decreased rapidly to 50% ± 10% while female estimates remained constant at 80% ± 5%. Different energetic requirements could underpin intersex differences in adult survival. However, the species' strong sexual dimorphism diverges during early juvenile development when sex-specific survival rates were less distinct. Maximizing growth is especially advantageous for males, with size being a major determinant of breeding probability. Maturing males may employ a high-risk high-reward foraging strategy to compensate for extensive sexual selection pressures and sex-specific energetic needs. Our findings suggest sex-specific adult survival is a result of in situ ecological interactions and evolutionary specialization associated with being a highly polygynous marine predator. |
format |
Text |
author |
Volzke, Sophia Cleeland, Jaimie B. Hindell, Mark A. Corney, Stuart P. Wotherspoon, Simon J. McMahon, Clive R. |
author_facet |
Volzke, Sophia Cleeland, Jaimie B. Hindell, Mark A. Corney, Stuart P. Wotherspoon, Simon J. McMahon, Clive R. |
author_sort |
Volzke, Sophia |
title |
Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal |
title_short |
Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal |
title_full |
Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal |
title_fullStr |
Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal |
title_sort |
extreme polygyny results in intersex differences in age-dependent survival of a highly dimorphic marine mammal |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10031410/ https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221635 |
genre |
Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
op_source |
R Soc Open Sci |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10031410/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221635 |
op_rights |
© 2023 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221635 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
3 |
_version_ |
1766401612447744000 |