Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal
Selection for crypsis has been recognized as an important ecological driver of animal colouration, whereas the relative importance of thermoregulation is more contentious with mixed empirical support. A potential thermal advantage of darker individuals has been observed in a wide range of animal spe...
Published in: | Journal of Animal Ecology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11573/1555779 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13457 |
id |
ftunivromairis:oai:iris.uniroma1.it:11573/1555779 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivromairis:oai:iris.uniroma1.it:11573/1555779 2024-02-11T09:59:53+01:00 Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal Cecilia Di Bernardi Anne- Mathilde Thierry Nina E. Eide Diana E. Bowler Lars Rød- Eriksen Stefan Blumentrath Lukas Tietgen Brett K. Sandercock Øystein Flagstad Arild Landa DI BERNARDI, Cecilia Mathilde Thierry, Anne- Eide, Nina E. Bowler, Diana E. Rød- Eriksen, Lar Blumentrath, Stefan Tietgen, Luka Sandercock, Brett K. Flagstad, Øystein Landa, Arild 2021 http://hdl.handle.net/11573/1555779 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13457 eng eng Cambridge University Press place:Cambridge info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000629689100001 volume:90 issue:5 firstpage:1328 lastpage:1340 numberofpages:13 journal:JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY http://hdl.handle.net/11573/1555779 doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13457 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85102598169 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Arctic fox camouflage colour polymorphism fitne reproductive performance snow cover info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2021 ftunivromairis https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13457 2024-01-24T18:04:44Z Selection for crypsis has been recognized as an important ecological driver of animal colouration, whereas the relative importance of thermoregulation is more contentious with mixed empirical support. A potential thermal advantage of darker individuals has been observed in a wide range of animal species. Arctic animals that exhibit colour polymorphisms and undergo seasonal colour moults are interesting study subjects for testing the two alternative hypotheses: demographic performance of different colour morphs might be differentially affected by snow cover with a cryptic advantage for lighter morphs, or conversely by winter temperature with a thermal advantage for darker morphs. In this study, we explored whether camouflage and thermoregulation might explain differences in reproduction and survival between the white and blue colour morphs of the Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus under natural conditions. Juvenile and adult survival, breeding propensity and litter size were measured for 798 captive-bred and released or wild-born Arctic foxes monitored during an 11-year period (2007–2017) in two subpopulations in south-central Norway. We investigated the proportion of the two colour morphs and compared their demographic performance in relation to spatial variation in duration of snow cover, onset of snow season and winter temperatures. After population re-establishment, a higher proportion of blue individuals was observed among wild-born Arctic foxes compared to the proportion of blue foxes released from the captive population. Our field study provides the first evidence for an effect of colour morph on the reproductive performance of Arctic foxes under natural conditions, with a higher breeding propensity of the blue morph compared to the white one. Performance of the two colour morphs was not differentially affected by the climatic variables, except for juvenile survival. Blue morph juveniles showed a tendency for higher survival under colder winter temperatures but lower survival under warmer temperatures compared to ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Fox Arctic Vulpes lagopus Sapienza Università di Roma: CINECA IRIS Arctic Norway Journal of Animal Ecology 90 5 1328 1340 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Sapienza Università di Roma: CINECA IRIS |
op_collection_id |
ftunivromairis |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic fox camouflage colour polymorphism fitne reproductive performance snow cover |
spellingShingle |
Arctic fox camouflage colour polymorphism fitne reproductive performance snow cover Cecilia Di Bernardi Anne- Mathilde Thierry Nina E. Eide Diana E. Bowler Lars Rød- Eriksen Stefan Blumentrath Lukas Tietgen Brett K. Sandercock Øystein Flagstad Arild Landa Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal |
topic_facet |
Arctic fox camouflage colour polymorphism fitne reproductive performance snow cover |
description |
Selection for crypsis has been recognized as an important ecological driver of animal colouration, whereas the relative importance of thermoregulation is more contentious with mixed empirical support. A potential thermal advantage of darker individuals has been observed in a wide range of animal species. Arctic animals that exhibit colour polymorphisms and undergo seasonal colour moults are interesting study subjects for testing the two alternative hypotheses: demographic performance of different colour morphs might be differentially affected by snow cover with a cryptic advantage for lighter morphs, or conversely by winter temperature with a thermal advantage for darker morphs. In this study, we explored whether camouflage and thermoregulation might explain differences in reproduction and survival between the white and blue colour morphs of the Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus under natural conditions. Juvenile and adult survival, breeding propensity and litter size were measured for 798 captive-bred and released or wild-born Arctic foxes monitored during an 11-year period (2007–2017) in two subpopulations in south-central Norway. We investigated the proportion of the two colour morphs and compared their demographic performance in relation to spatial variation in duration of snow cover, onset of snow season and winter temperatures. After population re-establishment, a higher proportion of blue individuals was observed among wild-born Arctic foxes compared to the proportion of blue foxes released from the captive population. Our field study provides the first evidence for an effect of colour morph on the reproductive performance of Arctic foxes under natural conditions, with a higher breeding propensity of the blue morph compared to the white one. Performance of the two colour morphs was not differentially affected by the climatic variables, except for juvenile survival. Blue morph juveniles showed a tendency for higher survival under colder winter temperatures but lower survival under warmer temperatures compared to ... |
author2 |
DI BERNARDI, Cecilia Mathilde Thierry, Anne- Eide, Nina E. Bowler, Diana E. Rød- Eriksen, Lar Blumentrath, Stefan Tietgen, Luka Sandercock, Brett K. Flagstad, Øystein Landa, Arild |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cecilia Di Bernardi Anne- Mathilde Thierry Nina E. Eide Diana E. Bowler Lars Rød- Eriksen Stefan Blumentrath Lukas Tietgen Brett K. Sandercock Øystein Flagstad Arild Landa |
author_facet |
Cecilia Di Bernardi Anne- Mathilde Thierry Nina E. Eide Diana E. Bowler Lars Rød- Eriksen Stefan Blumentrath Lukas Tietgen Brett K. Sandercock Øystein Flagstad Arild Landa |
author_sort |
Cecilia Di Bernardi |
title |
Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal |
title_short |
Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal |
title_full |
Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal |
title_fullStr |
Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fitness and fur colouration. Testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an Arctic mammal |
title_sort |
fitness and fur colouration. testing the camouflage and thermoregulation hypotheses in an arctic mammal |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11573/1555779 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13457 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway |
genre |
Arctic Fox Arctic Vulpes lagopus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Fox Arctic Vulpes lagopus |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000629689100001 volume:90 issue:5 firstpage:1328 lastpage:1340 numberofpages:13 journal:JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY http://hdl.handle.net/11573/1555779 doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13457 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85102598169 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13457 |
container_title |
Journal of Animal Ecology |
container_volume |
90 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1328 |
op_container_end_page |
1340 |
_version_ |
1790595608540610560 |