Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis)

Senescence is a decline in body function with advanced age that manifests itself in birds as a decrease in survival rates or reproduction. Senescence is difficult to study in free-ranging birds because few birds reach old age and few studies last long enough to identify those birds that do. For 21 y...

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Main Author: Conover, Michael R.
Other Authors: The Waterbird Society
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: Hosted by Utah State University Libraries 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wild_facpub/2515
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/context/wild_facpub/article/3515/type/native/viewcontent
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spelling ftutahsudc:oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:wild_facpub-3515 2023-05-15T15:46:14+02:00 Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis) Conover, Michael R. The Waterbird Society 2013-05-02T07:00:00Z text/html https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wild_facpub/2515 https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/context/wild_facpub/article/3515/type/native/viewcontent unknown Hosted by Utah State University Libraries https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wild_facpub/2515 https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/context/wild_facpub/article/3515/type/native/viewcontent Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact the Institutional Repository Librarian at digitalcommons@usu.edu. PDM Wildland Resources Faculty Publications age-specific reproduction Branta canadensis Canada Geese lifelong fecundity lifetime reproduction senescence terminal investment hypothesis Life Sciences text 2013 ftutahsudc 2022-09-22T17:19:30Z Senescence is a decline in body function with advanced age that manifests itself in birds as a decrease in survival rates or reproduction. Senescence is difficult to study in free-ranging birds because few birds reach old age and few studies last long enough to identify those birds that do. For 21 years, I studied lifelong reproduction among Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) nesting in New Haven County, Connecticut. These data were used to determine the impact of old age on female and male fecundity during the current year and during the remainder of the birds' lives. Old-aged geese were relatively common in this population; 15% of recruited geese lived 10 years, 3% lived 15 years, and one female lived 20 years. Females that nested when they were between 5 and 9 years old had a mean clutch size of 4.5, brood size at hatching of 3.4, and brood size at fledging of 2.9. Females that nested when they were at least 10 years old had a mean clutch size of 4.7, brood size at hatching of 3.4, and brood size at fledging of 3.3. These variables were independent of age for both sexes. Future reproduction (number of future nesting years and future production of eggs, hatchlings, and fledglings) declined with parental age for males but not females. Body mass of nesting birds did not change with age for either males or females. These results provided evidence of an effect of senescence in male Canada Geese but not females. The terminal investment hypothesis (i.e., that parental investment should increase as birds become older) was not supported for either sex. Text Branta canadensis Utah State University: DigitalCommons@USU Canada
institution Open Polar
collection Utah State University: DigitalCommons@USU
op_collection_id ftutahsudc
language unknown
topic age-specific reproduction
Branta canadensis
Canada Geese
lifelong fecundity
lifetime reproduction
senescence
terminal investment hypothesis
Life Sciences
spellingShingle age-specific reproduction
Branta canadensis
Canada Geese
lifelong fecundity
lifetime reproduction
senescence
terminal investment hypothesis
Life Sciences
Conover, Michael R.
Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis)
topic_facet age-specific reproduction
Branta canadensis
Canada Geese
lifelong fecundity
lifetime reproduction
senescence
terminal investment hypothesis
Life Sciences
description Senescence is a decline in body function with advanced age that manifests itself in birds as a decrease in survival rates or reproduction. Senescence is difficult to study in free-ranging birds because few birds reach old age and few studies last long enough to identify those birds that do. For 21 years, I studied lifelong reproduction among Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) nesting in New Haven County, Connecticut. These data were used to determine the impact of old age on female and male fecundity during the current year and during the remainder of the birds' lives. Old-aged geese were relatively common in this population; 15% of recruited geese lived 10 years, 3% lived 15 years, and one female lived 20 years. Females that nested when they were between 5 and 9 years old had a mean clutch size of 4.5, brood size at hatching of 3.4, and brood size at fledging of 2.9. Females that nested when they were at least 10 years old had a mean clutch size of 4.7, brood size at hatching of 3.4, and brood size at fledging of 3.3. These variables were independent of age for both sexes. Future reproduction (number of future nesting years and future production of eggs, hatchlings, and fledglings) declined with parental age for males but not females. Body mass of nesting birds did not change with age for either males or females. These results provided evidence of an effect of senescence in male Canada Geese but not females. The terminal investment hypothesis (i.e., that parental investment should increase as birds become older) was not supported for either sex.
author2 The Waterbird Society
format Text
author Conover, Michael R.
author_facet Conover, Michael R.
author_sort Conover, Michael R.
title Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis)
title_short Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis)
title_full Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis)
title_fullStr Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis)
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Increasing Age on Fecundity of Old-Aged Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis)
title_sort effects of increasing age on fecundity of old-aged canada geese (branta canadensis)
publisher Hosted by Utah State University Libraries
publishDate 2013
url https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wild_facpub/2515
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/context/wild_facpub/article/3515/type/native/viewcontent
geographic Canada
geographic_facet Canada
genre Branta canadensis
genre_facet Branta canadensis
op_source Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
op_relation https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wild_facpub/2515
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/context/wild_facpub/article/3515/type/native/viewcontent
op_rights Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact the Institutional Repository Librarian at digitalcommons@usu.edu.
op_rightsnorm PDM
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