Experimental manipulation of fertility reveals potential lactation costs in a free-ranging marsupial

Cripps, Jemma K.; Wilson, Michelle; Elgar, Mark A.; Coulson, Geoff

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0526

Cited by 37 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The delay in flight could be due to the higher energetic needs of young and mothers (Cripps, Wilson, Elgar, & Coulson, 2011;Gélin, Wilson, Coulson, & Festa-Bianchet, 2013), as these groups might not wish to abandon foraging opportunities until the threat is confirmed to be imminent (Cooper et al, 2003;Stankowich & Blumstein, 2005;Ydenberg & Dill, 1986). This explanation is supported by our finding that resource quality also influenced assessment distance at High Harm sites.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

“…This finding is contrary to our initial expectations, where we expected that groups with vulnerable individuals would respond quicker to risk in threatening landscapes (Blumstein, ; Cooper & Blumstein, ; Stankowich, ). The delay in flight could be due to the higher energetic needs of young and mothers (Cripps, Wilson, Elgar, & Coulson, ; Gélin, Wilson, Coulson, & Festa‐Bianchet, ), as these groups might not wish to abandon foraging opportunities until the threat is confirmed to be imminent (Cooper et al, ; Stankowich & Blumstein, ; Ydenberg & Dill, ). This explanation is supported by our finding that resource quality also influenced assessment distance at High Harm sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Flight responses of eastern gray kangaroos to benign or harmful human behavior

Austin

Ramp

2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globally, wilderness is being converted for rural and agricultural land use. In countryside landscapes, many habitat structures remain intact, providing suitable habitat for wildlife species that can accurately assess novel risks and develop tolerance to benign disturbances. Associative learning that promotes avoidance and also facilitates desensitization to benign disturbance is key to persisting in these landscapes. Conversely, learning to distinguish and avoid negative interactions with humans, like hunting, is vital. To determine if eastern gray kangaroos are capable of learning from previous interactions with humans, we tested the flight responses of wild kangaroos which have previously experienced either low or high frequencies of harmful and benign encounters with humans. We found that eastern gray kangaroos rapidly habituated to benign disturbance as there was no significant difference in assessment distance between groups that previously experienced low or high frequencies of disturbance. The threat of harmful disturbances was not as quickly learnt, as groups that experienced low frequencies of harmful disturbance delayed flight longer than those experiencing frequent harm. We found that the influence of environmental and group parameters on a kangaroo's decision to flee depended on the intent and frequency of previous interactions with humans. Our study indicates that kangaroos are learning from previous encounters with humans, correctly assessing novel risks which may be contributing to their persistence in countryside landscapes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flight responses of eastern gray kangaroos to benign or harmful human behavior

Austin

Ramp

2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Female western grey kangaroos foraged in very open habitats with high grass cover, whereas males foraged in a broader set of habitats that offered a mix of grass and sedges, consistent with the predictions of the forage‐ selection hypothesis for sexual segregation (Clutton‐Brock et al ). It is possible that female foraging decisions were influenced by their reproductive activity (Cripps et al ), as all females had large dependent young during our study. While neither sex used foraging habitats with access to browse, it is likely that females used habitats with higher‐quality resources than males (as previously reported for this species elsewhere, e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter‐ and intraspecific effects of body size on habitat use among sexually‐dimorphic macropodids

Garnick

Stefano

Elgar

et al. 2014

Oikos

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Body size affects key life‐history parameters including dietary requirements and predation risk. We examined these effects on diel habitat use in a community of three sexually‐dimorphic macropodid marsupial species: western grey kangaroo Macropus fuliginosus, red‐necked wallaby M. rufogriseus and swamp wallaby Wallabia bicolor. In particular, our study seeks evidence of these effects operating concurrently at the intra‐ and interspecific levels. We used radio‐tracking to quantify habitat use and characterised each used location by recording the cover of plant functional groups and the presence of plant species. During nocturnal foraging periods we predicted that smaller animals (between and within species) should use habitats with higher‐quality forage, which is often less abundant, than larger animals, as metabolic demand scales with body size. During diurnal resting periods we predicted that smaller animals (between and within species), being more vulnerable to predation, should use greater concealment cover than larger animals. Western grey kangaroos and swamp wallabies behaved as predicted during foraging periods, but red‐necked wallabies did not, using more open, poorer‐quality habitats than expected. Only western grey kangaroos showed a within‐species effect on habitat use: the relatively smaller females foraged in higher‐quality patches. Habitats used by animals during the resting period generally offered greater concealment cover than those used during the foraging period, but there were no clear body size effects on the density of vegetation used. In our system, body size alone could not explain all of the observed patterns, suggesting that there may also be individual differences in habitat requirements influenced by factors such as reproductive costs, predation risk and social facilitation.

show abstract

“…The energetic costs of lactation are highest for female eastern grey kangaroos when their young are at the LPY and early YAF stages. Females with high lactation demands spent more time feeding and had higher bite rates than non-reproductive females at Serendip Sanctuary, Victoria (Cripps et al 2011). At a different site in Victoria, found that females with a LPY or YAF were significantly more likely to be observed feeding than were females with smaller or without pouch-young.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Personalities, social patterns, and reproductive success in female eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus)

Menz¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sociality evolves when the benefits of grouping outweigh the costs. Living with relatives can sometimes help to offset some of these costs, and fission-fusion dynamics can help to maximize benefits. Individual differences in sociability can exist and such differences have been linked to fitness consequences in several species. Differences in other personality traits, those that show within-individual consistency and significant differences among individuals, can also influence fitness. However, more research is needed on the relationships among personality traits, and their fitness correlates, in natural populations to better understand the adaptive nature of individual differences in personality traits.The overall objective of my PhD was to understand some of the constraints, correlates, and fitness consequences of individual differences in sociability in an herbivorous marsupial, the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). Eastern grey kangaroos forage in open-membership groups that frequently change in size and composition. Females show natal philopatry but not complex cooperative interactions. I conducted field observations of a wild population of eastern grey kangaroos in Sundown National Park in south-east Queensland, Australia, over more than two years. I documented life-history traits, grouping patterns, and behavioural responses of over 240 identified females, and analysed these data in addition to two previous years' worth of data collected by other researchers.My first aim (Chapter 2) was to determine the extent to which females' boldness and sociability measures were consistent over multiple years, and how stable correlations among these traits were across time. I also determined whether females' association patterns could be explained to some degree by similarity in boldness, as measured by flight initiation distance. Individual differences in boldness and two measures of sociability (foraging group size and number of preferred associates) were significantly consistent across four years, and correlations between these traits tended to show consistency over time. Some social assortment between females of similar personalities was observed, but this was not consistent over time, and boldness was not related to preferential associations, suggesting that females were not actively choosing to associate with others based on their similarity in personality.In Chapter 3, I explored the relationships between kinship and association strengths among female kangaroos over four years. I used both biparental genetic relatedness estimates and mother-daughter relationships as measures of kinship, and conducted one set of analyses that considered both adults iii and sub-adults, and one restricted to adult females. Both analyses showed weak, yet significant, positive correlations between association strengths and biparental relatedness for all four years.Mother-daughter status of adult females explained almost twice the variation in pairs' association strengths as did biparental relatedness. Although spac...

show abstract

Experimental manipulation of fertility reveals potential lactation costs in a free-ranging marsupial

Cited by 37 publications

References 16 publications

Flight responses of eastern gray kangaroos to benign or harmful human behavior

Flight responses of eastern gray kangaroos to benign or harmful human behavior

Inter‐ and intraspecific effects of body size on habitat use among sexually‐dimorphic macropodids

Personalities, social patterns, and reproductive success in female eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About