Optimal litter size for individual growth of European rabbit pups depends on their thermal environment

Rödel, Heiko G.; Hudson, Robyn; Holst, Dietrich von

doi:10.1007/s00442-008-0958-5

Cited by 52 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…Soil temperatures during the breeding seasons of the study period ranged from 4.8 to 18.7 1C (more details in Ro¨del et al 2008c).…”

Section: Soil Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The trapping success during the ARTICLE IN PRESS early breeding season was around 80%. During and short before the onset of the breeding season, we dyed the abdominal fur of the adult females with different colours (silk colour, Marabu, Germany), and returned the animals to the enclosure 1-2 h later (more details in Ro¨del et al 2008c).…”

Section: Identification Of Mothersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Every morning during the breeding season (from around early March until about late September, see Ro¨del et al 2008c), we checked for newborn litters. To do this, we prepared all natural warrens and breeding stops dug by the animals with artificial vertical openings to the nest chambers, which we covered with concrete flagstones.…”

Section: Reproduction and Determination Of Pup Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Causes and predictors of nest mortality in a European rabbit population

et al. 2009

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We conducted a study on nest mortality of an individually marked population of European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus L., 1758) living in a field enclosure. Over 4 years, we determined maternities and quantified pup mortality during the nest period of 703 pups born in subterranean breeding burrows. Overall, pup mortality occurred in 42.7% of the litters, whereas 32.4% of all born pups were affected. Mortality was highest during the first few postnatal days. In about 50% of the cases, we managed to quantify different causes of mortality such as malnutrition, flooding, cooling of the pups, infanticide, or predation. The pups' body mass on postnatal day 1, the thermal environment and the number of litter mates were the most important predictors of nest mortality. Litter mortality risk decreased with increasing soil temperature around the subterranean nests. A comparatively higher average pup body mass lowered the nest mortality risk of a litter, whereas this effect was more pronounced when soil temperatures were low. Furthermore, mortality was lowest in medium-sized litters, most probably due to the balance between the thermal benefits of huddling with litter siblings and the costs of having them due to the lower share of milk obtained by the individual pups in larger litters. In addition, nest mortality depended on characteristics of the mother; mortality was increased in litters of low-ranking females and of mothers with lower body mass. In conclusion, our study highlights multiple causes and the effects of different environmental and social factors on nest mortality of this small mammal.

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“…Soil temperatures during the breeding seasons of the study period ranged from 4.8 to 18.7 1C (more details in Ro¨del et al 2008c).…”

Section: Soil Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identification Of Mothersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reproduction and Determination Of Pup Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Causes and predictors of nest mortality in a European rabbit population

et al. 2009

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“…Breeding cycles represent successive 30-day intervals starting with the annual onset of breeding, since European rabbits show a postpartum estrus and a gestation period of 30 days. The annual onset of breeding in our study population varied between mid February and late April, mainly governed by the weather conditions of the previous winter season (Rödel et al, 2005(Rödel et al, , 2008.…”

Section: Collection Of Reproductive Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most importantly, the lower share of milk available to the individual offspring born to larger litters limits their postnatal growth and thus body mass around weaning and beyond (Mendl, 1988;Rödel, Hudson, & von Holst, 2008), and hence affects the individual capability and agility of the young (Bautista, Garcia-Torres, Prager, Hudson, & Rödel, 2010;Muciño, Bautista, Jímenez, Martínez-Gómez, & Hudson, 2009). Furthermore, the number of siblings present during early postnatal life and the interactions among them might have priming effects for later behavioral tactics and interactions with conspecifics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Optimizing temperament through litter size in short‐lived, iteroparous mammals in seasonal environments

Eccard

Rödel

2011

Developmental Psychobiology

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A number of short-lived, iteroparous animal species have small broods in the early breeding season and larger broods in later breeding season. Brood size affects not only offspring size, but as recent results suggest, may also affect offspring's temperament, hormonal status, and aggression as adults. Most populations of short-lived, iteroparous mammals fluctuate predictably over the season, with low densities in winter, increasing densities in summer and a population peak in late summer followed by a population breakdown. If animals live only through parts of the season, possibly such differences in density and hence also in social environments among seasons require different personality types to increase individual fitness. We present data on behavior of European rabbits from a field enclosure study. These data clearly show that aggressiveness is higher in young from smaller litters than in young from larger litters, and smaller litters are usually born during the early breeding season. Moreover, our data suggest that behavioral types of the young rabbits are stable over time, at least during their subadult life. We suggest, that changes in mean litter size over the course of the breeding season may not only be a product of mothers' age or food availability, but may also have an adaptive function by preparing offspring characteristics for adulthood in a social environment undergoing predictable density changes within the season.

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Differential development of body equilibrium among littermates in the newborn rabbit

Muciño

Bautista

Jiménez

et al. 2008

Developmental Psychobiology

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Interest is growing among psychobiologists and behavioral ecologists in the role of sibling relations in shaping individual development and life histories. In litters of domestic rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus the heaviest pups at birth are more likely to survive the critical first postnatal week, they compete more effectively with littermates for milk and well-insulated positions in the litter huddle, and are the heaviest at weaning. Here we report that high birth weight pups are also better able to maintain body equilibrium. Testing pups' ability to maintain equilibrium when placed on a 15 degrees ramp for 2 min each day during the first postnatal week, we found that pups showed a continual daily improvement in their ability to maintain balance while moving on the ramp, rarely lost balance by postnatal day 8, and that heavier pups could maintain balance better and earlier than their lighter littermates. Better ability to maintain body equilibrium, however achieved, may help explain heavier pups' advantage in competing for vital resources such as milk and in gaining access to better-insulated positions in the litter huddle. It also provides further support for the usefulness of birth weight, not only as an absolute measure but also relative to the weight of other littermates, as a predictor of different developmental trajectories, behavioral and physiological, among same-age siblings in this mammal.

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Optimal litter size for individual growth of European rabbit pups depends on their thermal environment

Cited by 52 publications

References 74 publications

Causes and predictors of nest mortality in a European rabbit population

Causes and predictors of nest mortality in a European rabbit population

Optimizing temperament through litter size in short‐lived, iteroparous mammals in seasonal environments

Differential development of body equilibrium among littermates in the newborn rabbit

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