Individual reproductive strategies shape the mating system of tree sloths

Garcés-Restrepo, Mario F.; Peery, M. Zachariah; Reid, Brendan N.; Pauli, Jonathan N.

doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyx094

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We used 13 previously developed microsatellite markers to genotype all captured three-toed sloths at our study site [45]. We extracted sloth DNA, conducted PCR reactions, and genotyped individuals according to previously developed procedures [41,46]. We included all genotyped adult males and juveniles with weights between 3 and 3.7 kg as potential fathers to account for the possibility that some juveniles could have been reproductively active.…”

Section: (D) Estimating Reproductive Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used standard likelihood approaches implemented in the program Cervus v3.0.7 [47] to assign paternity for 33 juveniles that were sampled with what we assumed were their biological mothers ( juvenile was held by or located immediately adjacent to a female); maternity was confirmed by checking that the mother -offspring dyads shared at least 1 allele at all loci. We assumed a genotyping error rate of 0.01 and set the proportion of sampled candidate fathers at 85% based on the fact that almost all males encountered in our study area had previously been captured and sampled [46]. We used logarithm of odds ratio (LOD) scores, the difference in the likelihood of the two most likely candidate fathers, to assign paternity and to assess confidence in the assignment [41].…”

Section: (D) Estimating Reproductive Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The demography of a resource specialist in the tropics: Cecropia trees and the fitness of three-toed sloths

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Resource specialists persist in a narrow range of resources. Consequently, the abundance of key resources should drive vital rates, individual fitness, and population viability. While Neotropical forests feature both high levels of biodiversity and numbers of specialist species, no studies have directly evaluated how the variation of key resources affects the fitness of a tropical specialist. Here, we quantified the effect of key tree species density and forest cover on the fitness of three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegatus), an arboreal folivore strongly associated with Cecropia trees in Costa Rica, using a multi-year demographic, genetic, and space-use dataset. We found that the density of Cecropia trees was strongly and positively related to both adult survival and reproductive output. A matrix model parametrized with Cecropia-demography relationships suggested positive growth of sloth populations, even at low densities of Cecropia (0.7 trees ha 21 ). Our study shows the first direct link between the density of a key resource to demographic consequences of a tropical specialist, underscoring the sensitivity of tropical specialists to the loss of a single key resource, but also point to targeted conservation measures to increase that resource. Finally, our study reveals that previously disturbed and regenerating environments can support viable populations of tropical specialists.

show abstract

Section: (D) Estimating Reproductive Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (D) Estimating Reproductive Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

The demography of a resource specialist in the tropics: Cecropia trees and the fitness of three-toed sloths

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Mating systems are more of reproductive strategies of individuals rather than the traits of species [20,21]. The high variability in breeding strategies is associated with high versatility in their social and spatial organization [22,23,24]. Complex social systems and diverse behavioral repertoires create both opportunities and challenges for behavioral biology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive Behavior of Different Species of the Genus Ovis (Ovis Linnaeus, 1758) During Hybridization

Иолчиев¹,

Khusnetdinova²,

Yuri³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThere are several mechanisms of species isolation and species conservation, one of which is the behavior of individuals during the mating season. Inter specific hybridization is used to create new breeding forms and breeds of farm animals. The aim of this study was to look into the reproductive behavior of males of cultured sheep breeds and their wild relatives during the mating period in order to identify consistent patterns of movements, elementary motor acts, and individual reactions.ResultsIt was found that the duration of the courtship display in the European mouflon was, with a high degree of confidence, longer than in the male domestic sheep. In mouflons, it was 246.5 ± 31.85 minutes, while in rams, it was 88.46 ± 9.23 minutes (p < 0.0001). Many patterns in purebred sheep were shorter, or absent. In wild species, there is a connection between sexual activity and time of day. The highest frequency of intromission in mouflons occurred in the time interval between 6–8 a.m. and 11 p.m.–4 a.m.; in rams, the dependence of sexual activity on the time of day was not observed. During the estrus period, the relationship between females changed. If there were several individuals in the group in the state of estrus at the same time, the dominant females hindered the reproductive success of the lower-ranking sheep.ConclusionsThe present study shows that the patterns of reproductive behavior in males of different species of sheep are similar. However, it was revealed that the species differ in the length of those patterns. A high variability in the strategies of sheep reproduction was observed. For future research, it would be beneficial to focus on the features of the reproductive behavior of female sheep depending on the genotype.

show abstract

“…In each generation, we assumed a 1% genotyping error rate and assigned errors to genotypes randomly. Finally, we assumed a random mating system given frequent observations of promiscuous mating behaviours and mate switching in female two‐toed sloths (Peery & Pauli, , Garcés‐Restrepo, Peery, Reid, & Pauli, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomics meets applied ecology: Characterizing habitat quality for sloths in a tropical agroecosystem

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding how habitat quality in heterogeneous landscapes governs the distribution and fitness of individuals is a fundamental aspect of ecology. While mean individual fitness is generally considered a key to assessing habitat quality, a comprehensive understanding of habitat quality in heterogeneous landscapes requires estimates of dispersal rates among habitat types. The increasing accessibility of genomic approaches, combined with field-based demographic methods, provides novel opportunities for incorporating dispersal estimation into assessments of habitat quality. In this study, we integrated genomic kinship approaches with field-based estimates of fitness components and approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) procedures to estimate habitat-specific dispersal rates and characterize habitat quality in twotoed sloths (Choloepus hoffmanni) occurring in a Costa Rican agricultural ecosystem.Field-based observations indicated that birth and survival rates were similar in a sparsely shaded cacao farm and adjacent cattle pasture-forest mosaic. Sloth density was threefold higher in pasture compared with cacao, whereas home range size and overlap were greater in cacao compared with pasture. Dispersal rates were similar between the two habitats, as estimated using ABC procedures applied to the spatial distribution of pairs of related individuals identified using 3,431 single nucleotide polymorphism and 11 microsatellite locus genotypes. Our results indicate that crops produced under a sparse overstorey can, in some cases, constitute lower-quality habitat than pasture-forest mosaics for sloths, perhaps because of differences in food resources or predator communities. Finally, our study demonstrates that integrating field-based demographic approaches with genomic methods can provide a powerful means for characterizing habitat quality for animal populations occurring in heterogeneous landscapes. K E Y W O R D Sagroecosystem, dispersal, genomics, habitat quality, kinship, sloths | INTRODUCTIONCharacterizing habitat quality for species occurring in heterogeneous landscapes is a key endeavour of ecology, where high-quality habitats are expected to lead to high mean individual fitness in the absence of density-dependent effects (Johnson, 2007). Theoretically, individuals will seek to promote their fitness by preferentially selecting high-over low-quality habitats (Franklin, Anderson, Guti errez, & Burnham, 2000;Morris, 2003;Orians, 1969), and estimating mean individual fitness in different habitat types is therefore considered the "gold standard" for assessing habitat quality (Johnson, 2007). Fitness, however, is also a function of the density of conspecifics within a habitat patch as intraspecific competition for resources can modulate the fitness benefits of high-quality habitats (Hassell & May, 1973;Milinski, 1979). Consequently, individuals must balance perceived trade-offs between habitat quality and intraspecific competition when selecting habitat in order to maximize their contribution to future generations...

show abstract

Individual reproductive strategies shape the mating system of tree sloths

Cited by 11 publications

References 43 publications

The demography of a resource specialist in the tropics: Cecropia trees and the fitness of three-toed sloths

The demography of a resource specialist in the tropics: Cecropia trees and the fitness of three-toed sloths

Reproductive Behavior of Different Species of the Genus Ovis (Ovis Linnaeus, 1758) During Hybridization

Genomics meets applied ecology: Characterizing habitat quality for sloths in a tropical agroecosystem

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About