Individual Covariation in Life‐History Traits: Seeing the Trees Despite the Forest

Cam, Emmanuelle; Link, William A.; Cooch, Evan G.; Monnat, Jean‐Yves; Danchin, Étienne

doi:10.1086/324126

Cited by 347 publications

(413 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Second, we did not detect an influence of age per se on adults breeding probability while it was reported in previous studies of the same population [11,23]. We see several explanations for this apparently contradictory result.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

“…We see several explanations for this apparently contradictory result. An age effect can be masked by individual heterogeneity [11], which was not accounted for here, or may be detectable only when accounting for other covariates [23]. Alternatively, while many experienced individuals are reobserved at oldest ages, none of the inexperienced individuals reached old ages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Now you see him, now you don't: experience, not age, is related to reproduction in kittiwakes

et al. 2011

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In long-lived species, individuals can skip reproduction. The proportion of breeders affects population growth rate and viability, there is a need to investigate the factors influencing intermittent breeding. The theory predicts that if lack of experience is an important constraint, breeding probabilities should increase with experience for individuals of the same age, whereas under the so-called restraint hypothesis, breeding probabilities should increase with age regardless of experience. However, because the probability of detecting individuals in the wild is generally less than 1, it is difficult to know exactly the number of previous breeding episodes (breeding experience). To cope with this issue, we developed a hidden process model to incorporate experience as a latent state possibly influencing the probability of breeding. Using a 22-year mark-recapture dataset involving 9970 individuals, we analysed simultaneously experience and age effects on breeding probabilities in the kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). We did not detect an influence of age on adult breeding probabilities. We found that inexperienced birds breed less frequently than experienced birds. Our approach enables us to highlight the key role of experience on adults breeding probabilities and can be used for a wide range of organisms for which detection is less than 1.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Now you see him, now you don't: experience, not age, is related to reproduction in kittiwakes

et al. 2011

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“…Cam et al 2002;Nussey et al 2008). A variety of genetic, maternal and environmental factors can lead to variation among individuals within a population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survival costs of reproduction vary with age in North American red squirrels

et al. 2008

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The costs of reproduction are expected to be higher under unfavourable conditions, so that breeding in years of low food supply should have important costs. In addition, the costs of reproduction may be contingent on the age of individuals, and young growing and old senescent individuals should suffer higher costs than the prime-age ones. We tested these predictions by investigating the costs of reproduction as a function of food availability and age in female North American red squirrels using the long-term data on survival and reproduction. We found that the costs of reproduction were independent of food supply, and we did not detect any trade-off between the current and future reproduction. We also did not detect any survival cost of reproduction for the prime-age females, but found evidence for survival costs in yearlings and old (6 years or above) females with successfully breeding individuals having a lower chance of survival compared with unsuccessful or non-breeding ones. These results supported our prediction that the costs of reproduction depended on the age of female red squirrels and were higher in young growing and old senescent individuals. Our study also indicated that, in contrast to large herbivores, heterogeneity in individual quality and viability selection in red squirrels do not affect the study of trade-offs and of the age variation in life-history traits.

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“…Longitudinal studies over the whole lifespan that tease these effects apart remain very scarce in both mammals (Gaillard et al 1994;Nussey et al 2006) and birds (Cam et al 2002;Reid et al 2003). Here, we make use of an exceptional long-term dataset in the long-lived mute swan (Cygnus olor) to investigate within-individual changes with age in reproductive performance (laying date and clutch size) while controlling for potential covariance between individual quality and longevity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-specific reproduction in a long-lived species: the combined effects of senescence and individual quality

et al. 2008

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Apparent changes in breeding performance with age measured at the population level can be due to changes in individual capacity at different ages, or to the differential survival of individuals with different capabilities. Estimating the relative importance of the two is important for understanding ageing patterns in natural populations, but there are few studies of such populations in which these effects have been disentangled. We analysed laying date and clutch size as measures of individual performance in a population of mute swans (Cygnus olor) studied over 25 years at Abbotsbury, UK. On both measures of breeding performance, individuals tended to improve up to the age of 6 or 7, and to decline after about the age of 12. Individuals with longer lifespans performed better at all ages (earlier laying, larger clutches) than animals that ceased breeding earlier. We conclude that the apparent mean increase in performance with age in mute swans is due to both individual improvement and differential survival of individuals who perform well, while the decline in older age groups is due to individual loss of function. Our results underline the need to take individual differences into account when testing hypotheses about life histories in wild populations.

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Individual Covariation in Life‐History Traits: Seeing the Trees Despite the Forest

Cited by 347 publications

References 61 publications

Now you see him, now you don't: experience, not age, is related to reproduction in kittiwakes

Now you see him, now you don't: experience, not age, is related to reproduction in kittiwakes

Survival costs of reproduction vary with age in North American red squirrels

Age-specific reproduction in a long-lived species: the combined effects of senescence and individual quality

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