Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis
International audience We investigated prenatal investment in a large sexually dimorphic mammal, the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis, on Amsterdam Island in the Indian Ocean. Pups' sex ratio and body mass, body length, and body condition at birth were studied in relation to timi...
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ftunivrochelle:oai:HAL:hal-00192442v1 2024-02-11T09:55:14+01:00 Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis Georges, Jean-Yves Guinet, Christophe Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Laboratoire de biologie et environnement marins - LBEM (LBEML) La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2001 https://hal.science/hal-00192442 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 en eng HAL CCSD NRC Research Press info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 hal-00192442 https://hal.science/hal-00192442 doi:10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 ISSN: 0008-4301 EISSN: 1480-3283 Canadian Journal of Zoology https://hal.science/hal-00192442 Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2001, 79, pp.601-609. ⟨10.1139/cjz-79-4-601⟩ [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2001 ftunivrochelle https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 2024-01-23T23:35:21Z International audience We investigated prenatal investment in a large sexually dimorphic mammal, the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis, on Amsterdam Island in the Indian Ocean. Pups' sex ratio and body mass, body length, and body condition at birth were studied in relation to timing of birth and maternal characteristics (body length and body condition) during three consecutive breeding seasons. Pups' sex ratio did not differ from unity throughout the pupping period. The sex of the pup was related to neither maternal body length (i.e., maternal age) nor maternal body condition when mating occurred or at parturition (1 year later), which suggests that the sex ratio was not biased toward one sex during gestation. Newborn male pups were heavier and longer than female pups in all years. Longer mothers tended to arrive later in the season regardless of their body condition, and gave birth to heavier pups whatever the sex of the pup. Mothers in good condition gave birth to heavier male pups than mothers in poor condition, but no significant differences were found for female pups, suggesting that the costs of carrying male foetuses is higher than that of carrying female foetuses. Differences in allocation of maternal resources between male and female pups may be due to sexrelated differences in body composition, since male pups were heavier than female pups for a given body length at birth. Thus, male and female foetuses may use maternal resources differently, with males growing in length whereas females appear to grow in body mass. The mothers we monitored over 2 consecutive years gave birth to pups that were similar in quality (in terms of birth mass) over years regardless of the sex of the previous pup and the mother's body length, suggesting that individual reproductive value is independent of maternal age. Furthermore, maternal body condition was not affected by the sex of the foetus, suggesting that there is no differential reproductive cost in carrying a male or a female foetus. Interannual ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Amsterdam Island HAL - Université de La Rochelle Indian Canadian Journal of Zoology 79 4 601 609 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HAL - Université de La Rochelle |
op_collection_id |
ftunivrochelle |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society |
spellingShingle |
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society Georges, Jean-Yves Guinet, Christophe Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis |
topic_facet |
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society |
description |
International audience We investigated prenatal investment in a large sexually dimorphic mammal, the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis, on Amsterdam Island in the Indian Ocean. Pups' sex ratio and body mass, body length, and body condition at birth were studied in relation to timing of birth and maternal characteristics (body length and body condition) during three consecutive breeding seasons. Pups' sex ratio did not differ from unity throughout the pupping period. The sex of the pup was related to neither maternal body length (i.e., maternal age) nor maternal body condition when mating occurred or at parturition (1 year later), which suggests that the sex ratio was not biased toward one sex during gestation. Newborn male pups were heavier and longer than female pups in all years. Longer mothers tended to arrive later in the season regardless of their body condition, and gave birth to heavier pups whatever the sex of the pup. Mothers in good condition gave birth to heavier male pups than mothers in poor condition, but no significant differences were found for female pups, suggesting that the costs of carrying male foetuses is higher than that of carrying female foetuses. Differences in allocation of maternal resources between male and female pups may be due to sexrelated differences in body composition, since male pups were heavier than female pups for a given body length at birth. Thus, male and female foetuses may use maternal resources differently, with males growing in length whereas females appear to grow in body mass. The mothers we monitored over 2 consecutive years gave birth to pups that were similar in quality (in terms of birth mass) over years regardless of the sex of the previous pup and the mother's body length, suggesting that individual reproductive value is independent of maternal age. Furthermore, maternal body condition was not affected by the sex of the foetus, suggesting that there is no differential reproductive cost in carrying a male or a female foetus. Interannual ... |
author2 |
Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Laboratoire de biologie et environnement marins - LBEM (LBEML) La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Georges, Jean-Yves Guinet, Christophe |
author_facet |
Georges, Jean-Yves Guinet, Christophe |
author_sort |
Georges, Jean-Yves |
title |
Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis |
title_short |
Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis |
title_full |
Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis |
title_fullStr |
Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis |
title_sort |
prenatal investment in the subantarctic fur seal, arctocephalus tropicalis |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00192442 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 |
geographic |
Indian |
geographic_facet |
Indian |
genre |
Amsterdam Island |
genre_facet |
Amsterdam Island |
op_source |
ISSN: 0008-4301 EISSN: 1480-3283 Canadian Journal of Zoology https://hal.science/hal-00192442 Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2001, 79, pp.601-609. ⟨10.1139/cjz-79-4-601⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 hal-00192442 https://hal.science/hal-00192442 doi:10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-79-4-601 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
79 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
601 |
op_container_end_page |
609 |
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1790594668052873216 |