Lifetime growth in wild meerkats: incorporating life history and environmental factors into a standard growth model

English, Sinéad; Bateman, Andrew; Clutton‐Brock, Tim

doi:10.1007/s00442-011-2192-9

Cited by 59 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The parameters obtained from the most common non-linear models can be used for comparisons, both across and within species, as they control for differences in body size (Griffiths and Brook, 2005;English et al, 2012). To characterize body mass development, the weekly weights of each specimen from six until 16 weeks of life were fitted to three growth models frequently used in mammals: the Gompertz, logistic, and Richards equations (Zullinger et al, 1984).…”

Section: Growth and Body Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is well known that many factors affect growth over the course of an individual's lifespan, not only food availability, but also population density, competition, and health factors as well as other environmental challenges (Griffiths and Brook, 2005;English et al, 2012;Lee et al, 2012;Schmidt et al, 2012). When faced with limited resources and environmental challenges, organisms may prioritize the development and maintenance of particular processes over others, thus inducing a trade-off between these processes (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Growth patterns in male rats exposed to concurrent long-term environmental challenges

Cuervo¹,

Racca²,

Beldoménico³

2016

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SUMMARY.Growth is a key determinant of fitness in animals, and may be affected by the environmental challenges presented over the course of an individual's lifespan. When faced with limited resources and environmental challenges, organisms may prioritize the development and maintenance of particular processes over others. To expand our understanding of the consequences of organism exposure to a changing environment, we offer a long-term experiment to compare the growth patterns of young male rats exposed and not exposed to food limitation and social conflict. The patterns of growth of young rats were altered by the exposure to these environmental challenges, two of the most frequently faced by animals. As expected, scarcity of food resulted in a marked growth decline in animals exposed to nutritional stress. Interestingly, individuals exposed to an unstable social environment, but fed ad libitum, evidenced a growth rate 6% smaller than those under stable social conditions. An interaction between food limitation and social conflict was not observed. As a larger body size growth results in a competitive advantage in encounters, the detected divergence on growth patterns may represent significant consequences on the individual's life trajectory. RESUMEN. Patrones de crecimiento en ratas macho expuestas de manera prolongada a desafíos ambientales concurrentes. En animales, la eficacia biológica es influenciada por el crecimiento, que a su vez es afectado por los desafíos ambientales que el individuo enfrente a lo largo de su vida. Ante escasez de recursos u otros desafíos, los organismos priorizarían el desarrollo y mantenimiento de algunos procesos por sobre otros. Para profundizar nuestro conocimiento sobre las consecuencias de la exposición a un ambiente cambiante, desarrollamos un experimento de larga duración para comparar los patrones de crecimiento de ratas jóvenes expuestas y no expuestas a restricción alimentaria y conflicto social. La exposición a estos dos desafíos ambientales, comunes en la naturaleza, alteró los patrones de crecimiento de las ratas. La escasez de alimento ocasionó un descenso marcado del crecimiento en los animales bajo restricción alimentaria. Mientras que individuos expuestos a inestabilidad social, pero con alimento ad libitum, demostraron una tasa de crecimiento 6% menor que aquellos en condiciones sociales estables. Adicionalmente, no se encontró interacción significativa entre restricción alimentaria y conflicto social. Siendo que un mayor crecimiento corporal resulta ventajoso ante interacciones competitivas, la diferencia detectada entre los patrones de crecimiento tendría consecuencias de importancia en la trayectoria de vida de los individuos.

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Section: Growth and Body Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth patterns in male rats exposed to concurrent long-term environmental challenges

Cuervo¹,

Racca²,

Beldoménico³

2016

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“…As a result, two male phenotypes exist; solitary males, which do not exceed adult females in size and associated males that are on average 38% heavier and 13% larger than females. In meerkats, growth rates have been shown to be individually variable over even longer life trajectories with significant environmental influence (English et al 2012). In fosas, variability in growth patterns may be similarly related to highly seasonal environmental conditions in Madagascar, which has been linked to various behavioral, physiological, and morphological adaptations in other endemic taxa (Wright 1999;Dewar and Richard 2007).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Strength in numbers: males in a carnivore grow bigger when they associate and hunt cooperatively

2012

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Group-living has been recognized as one of the major transitions in evolution. Male sociality along with solitary females is rare in mammals, but it can provide unique insights into the evolution of sociality and cooperation. Because males compete with each other over females, male cooperation in mammals has been explained by joint defense of females against other males. Here, we demonstrate that the benefits of male cooperative hunting can play a major role in shaping sociality. By quantifying differences in morphology, activity, diet, and mating success, we show that in Madagascar's top predator, the fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox), some males associate to jointly hunt large prey, which allows them to grow bigger than both solitary males and females. These associated males' physical superiority also represents an advantage in contest competition for females, as reflected by higher mating success. Our results demonstrate that enhanced access to food resources by cooperative hunting is a key to physical development and competitiveness in fosas. In contrast to previous findings, we show that male sociality must not be limited to joint defense of territory and females, but that cooperation in food acquisition can favor sociality in sexually dimorphic species.

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“…Meerkats were weighed (to the nearest gram) in the morning immediately after emergence from their sleeping burrow, but before foraging had commenced, after 1-4 hours of foraging, and again in the evening after foraging was completed but before they entered their sleeping burrow (45,46). Birth dates of meerkats were known so we calculated age-corrected body mass as a measure of body condition.…”

Section: (C) Body Mass and Foraging Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of stress hormones and aggression on cooperative behaviour in subordinate meerkats

et al. 2017

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General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms varied between cooperative activities as well as between the sexes. Subordinates of both sexes that were treated with a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist (mifepristone) exhibited significantly more pup protection behaviour ('babysitting') compared to those treated with glucocorticoids (cortisol) or controls. Females treated with mifepristone had a higher probability of exhibiting pup food provisioning ('pupfeeding') compared to those treated with cortisol. In males, there were no treatment effects on the probability of pupfeeding, but those treated with cortisol fed a higher proportion of the food they found to pups than those treated with mifepristone. We also used 19 years of behavioural data to show that dominant females did not increase the frequency with which they directed aggression at subordinates at times when their need for assistance was highest. Our results suggest that it is unlikely that dominant females manipulate the cooperative behavior of subordinates through the effects of aggression on their glucocorticoid levels and that the function of aggression directed at subordinates is probably to reduce the probability they will breed.

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Lifetime growth in wild meerkats: incorporating life history and environmental factors into a standard growth model

Cited by 59 publications

References 49 publications

Growth patterns in male rats exposed to concurrent long-term environmental challenges

Growth patterns in male rats exposed to concurrent long-term environmental challenges

Strength in numbers: males in a carnivore grow bigger when they associate and hunt cooperatively

The influence of stress hormones and aggression on cooperative behaviour in subordinate meerkats

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