Direct and socially-mediated effects of food availability late in life on life-history variation in a short-lived lizard

Mugabo, Marianne; Marquis, Olivier; Perret, Samuel; Galliard, Jean‐François Le

doi:10.1007/s00442-011-1933-0

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In a previous study, we demonstrated that effects of food availability on life history were strongly influenced by age class, sex and asymmetric social interactions between birth cohorts (Mugabo et al . , ). Adult male common lizards are socially dominant over conspecifics and asymmetric competition for food between age and sex classes has been observed in the wild (Massot et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Mugabo et al . , ). Here, we found that negative density dependence was stronger in juveniles than in yearlings and adults and was stronger in females than in males, with adult males being little affected by density.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These covariates were included because we already demonstrated that they can explain significantly life‐history variation among individuals (Mugabo et al . , ). All covariates were centred.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Density‐dependent life history and the dynamics of small populations

Mugabo

Perret

Legendre

et al. 2013

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Summary1. Small population dynamics depend importantly on the strength and shape of density dependence. Unfortunately, the lack of reliable life-history data often prevents to make accurate demographic predictions for populations regulated by density dependence. 2. We created a gradient from low to high densities in small experimental populations of common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) and investigated the shape and strength of the density dependence of life-history traits during a yearly cycle. We then analysed stochastic population dynamics using one-sex and two-sex age-structured matrix models. 3. Body growth and reproductive performances decreased with density, yearling and adult survival and body size at birth were density-independent, and juvenile survival increased with density. The density dependence of reproduction was partly explained by positive effects of body size on age at first reproduction and clutch size. 4. Parturition date decreased with density in sparse populations and then increased, providing one of the first empirical evidence of a component Allee effect in the phenology of reproduction. 5. Population growth rate (k) was most affected by variations in juvenile and yearling survival. However, density at equilibrium was most affected by juvenile access to reproduction and yearling clutch size. 6. Stochastic simulations revealed that negative density dependence buffers the effects of initial density on extinction probability, has positive effects on the persistence of sparse populations and interacts with sex ratio fluctuations to shape extinction dynamics. 7. This study demonstrates that negative density dependence modifies the dynamics of small populations and should be investigated together with Allee effects to predict extinction risks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Density‐dependent life history and the dynamics of small populations

Mugabo

Perret

Legendre

et al. 2013

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…For example, litter size may be influenced by female food consumption after hibernation (when vitellogenesis starts) and also by conditions experienced before vitellogenesis (e.g., Marquis et al, 2008). Common lizards are thought to use a mixed‐strategy in which they fuel reproduction with both stored and recently acquired resources (Avery, '75; Massot and Clobert, '95; Mugabo et al, 2011; Bleu et al, unpublished results). According to previous observations, litter size is a function of multiple mating (Fitze et al, 2005; Eizaguirre et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mating does not influence reproductive investment, in a viviparous lizard

et al. 2011

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Mating is crucial for females that reproduce exclusively sexually and should influence their investment into reproduction. Although reproductive adjustments in response to mate quality have been tested in a wide range of species, the effect of exposure to males and mating per se has seldom been studied. Compensatory mechanisms against the absence of mating may evolve more frequently in viviparous females, which pay higher direct costs of reproduction, due to gestation, than oviparous females. To test the existence of such mechanisms in a viviparous species, we experimentally manipulated the mating opportunity of viviparous female lizard, Lacerta (Zootoca) vivipara. We assessed the effect of mating on ovulation, postpartum body condition and parturition date, as well as on changes in locomotor performances and body temperatures during the breeding cycle. Female lizards ovulated spontaneously and mating had no influence on litter size, locomotor impairment or on selected body temperature. However, offspring production induced a more pronounced locomotor impairment and physical burden than the production of undeveloped eggs. Postpartum body condition and parturition dates were not different among females. This result suggests that gestation length is not determined by an embryonic signal. In the common lizard, viviparity is not associated with facultative ovulation and a control of litter size after ovulation, in response to the absence of mating.

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“…) may be more important drivers of future body size than are influences post‐hatching (e.g., social environment, Mugabo et al. ; physiological performance, Clobert et al. ) for this species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Early Activity Rates do not Predict Growth and Future Body Size of Juvenile Eastern Fence Lizards, Sceloporus undulatus

Rosier

Langkilde

2013

Ethology

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Selection favors larger body size in many taxa. In some species, larger individuals are more active and bolder than smaller conspecifics, but the nature of this relationship is unclear: Is body size a predictor or a consequence of behavior? Any effect of behavior on body size may be through its effect on competitive ability, suggesting that the presence of potential competitors could exaggerate or suppress this relationship. In this study, we tested whether an individual's activity rates early in life predict its future body size by measuring same‐aged, sibling eastern fence lizards before (8 d) and after (8 wk) they significantly diverged in body size. We tested for an effect of conspecific presence (potential competition) on the relationship between early behavior and future body size by housing some lizards in sibling groups and others individually, using a split‐clutch design. Our results reveal that individuals' activity rates do not significantly differ between 8 d and 8 wk of age. At 8 wk (but not 8 d) of age, more active siblings were also larger in both housing treatments; however, early activity rates did not predict body size later in development for either of these groups. Conversely, body size at hatching did predict size at 8 wk. Although variation in activity rates exists prior to divergence in body size, and activity and body size are correlated later in development, our results suggest that higher activity rates are unlikely to be driving body size divergence in this species. Instead, very small differences in body size at hatching appear to be compounded over time and drive much more exaggerated differences in later body size.

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Direct and socially-mediated effects of food availability late in life on life-history variation in a short-lived lizard

Cited by 17 publications

References 40 publications

Density‐dependent life history and the dynamics of small populations

Density‐dependent life history and the dynamics of small populations

Mating does not influence reproductive investment, in a viviparous lizard

Early Activity Rates do not Predict Growth and Future Body Size of Juvenile Eastern Fence Lizards, Sceloporus undulatus

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