Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer
The costs of reproduction are important in shaping individual life histories, and hence population dynamics, but the mechanistic pathways of such costs are often unknown. Female reindeer have evolved antlers possibly due to interference competition on winter-feeding grounds. Here, we investigate if...
Published in: | Oecologia |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670270 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04347-7 |
id |
ftunivmob:oai:nmbu.brage.unit.no:11250/2670270 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivmob:oai:nmbu.brage.unit.no:11250/2670270 2023-05-15T18:29:49+02:00 Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer Loe, Leif Egil Pigeon, Gabriel Albon, Steve D. Giske, Pernille Andrine Eriksdatter Irvine, R. Justin Ropstad, Erik Stien, Audun Veiberg, Vebjørn Mysterud, Atle 2019-05-09T13:08:27Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670270 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04347-7 eng eng Norges forskningsråd: 267613 Norges forskningsråd: 216051 Oecologia. 2019, 189 (3), 601-609. urn:issn:0029-8549 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670270 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04347-7 cristin:1696633 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.no CC-BY-NC-ND 601-609 189 Oecologia 3 Peer reviewed Journal article 2019 ftunivmob https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04347-7 2021-09-23T20:16:02Z The costs of reproduction are important in shaping individual life histories, and hence population dynamics, but the mechanistic pathways of such costs are often unknown. Female reindeer have evolved antlers possibly due to interference competition on winter-feeding grounds. Here, we investigate if variation in antler size explains part of the cost of reproduction in late winter mass of female reindeer. We captured 440 individual Svalbard reindeer a total of 1426 times over 16 years and measured antler size and body mass in late winter, while presence of a ‘calf-at-heel’ was observed in summer. We found that reproductive females grew smaller antlers and weighed 4.3 kg less than non-reproductive females. Path analyses revealed that 14% of this cost of reproduction in body mass was caused by the reduced antler size. Our study is therefore consistent with the hypothesis that antlers in female Rangifer have evolved due to interference competition and provides evidence for antler growth as a cost of reproduction in females. Antler growth was constrained more by life history events than by variation in the environment, which contrasts markedly with studies on male antlers and horns, and hence increases our understanding of constraints on ornamentation and life history trade-offs. acceptedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Svalbard svalbard reindeer Open archive Norwegian University of Life Sciences: Brage NMBU Svalbard Oecologia 189 3 601 609 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Open archive Norwegian University of Life Sciences: Brage NMBU |
op_collection_id |
ftunivmob |
language |
English |
description |
The costs of reproduction are important in shaping individual life histories, and hence population dynamics, but the mechanistic pathways of such costs are often unknown. Female reindeer have evolved antlers possibly due to interference competition on winter-feeding grounds. Here, we investigate if variation in antler size explains part of the cost of reproduction in late winter mass of female reindeer. We captured 440 individual Svalbard reindeer a total of 1426 times over 16 years and measured antler size and body mass in late winter, while presence of a ‘calf-at-heel’ was observed in summer. We found that reproductive females grew smaller antlers and weighed 4.3 kg less than non-reproductive females. Path analyses revealed that 14% of this cost of reproduction in body mass was caused by the reduced antler size. Our study is therefore consistent with the hypothesis that antlers in female Rangifer have evolved due to interference competition and provides evidence for antler growth as a cost of reproduction in females. Antler growth was constrained more by life history events than by variation in the environment, which contrasts markedly with studies on male antlers and horns, and hence increases our understanding of constraints on ornamentation and life history trade-offs. acceptedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Loe, Leif Egil Pigeon, Gabriel Albon, Steve D. Giske, Pernille Andrine Eriksdatter Irvine, R. Justin Ropstad, Erik Stien, Audun Veiberg, Vebjørn Mysterud, Atle |
spellingShingle |
Loe, Leif Egil Pigeon, Gabriel Albon, Steve D. Giske, Pernille Andrine Eriksdatter Irvine, R. Justin Ropstad, Erik Stien, Audun Veiberg, Vebjørn Mysterud, Atle Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer |
author_facet |
Loe, Leif Egil Pigeon, Gabriel Albon, Steve D. Giske, Pernille Andrine Eriksdatter Irvine, R. Justin Ropstad, Erik Stien, Audun Veiberg, Vebjørn Mysterud, Atle |
author_sort |
Loe, Leif Egil |
title |
Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer |
title_short |
Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer |
title_full |
Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer |
title_fullStr |
Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer |
title_full_unstemmed |
Antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer |
title_sort |
antler growth as a cost of reproduction in female reindeer |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670270 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04347-7 |
geographic |
Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard |
genre |
Svalbard svalbard reindeer |
genre_facet |
Svalbard svalbard reindeer |
op_source |
601-609 189 Oecologia 3 |
op_relation |
Norges forskningsråd: 267613 Norges forskningsråd: 216051 Oecologia. 2019, 189 (3), 601-609. urn:issn:0029-8549 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670270 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04347-7 cristin:1696633 |
op_rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.no |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04347-7 |
container_title |
Oecologia |
container_volume |
189 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
601 |
op_container_end_page |
609 |
_version_ |
1766213209413386240 |