The behavioral trade-off between thermoregulation and foraging in a heat-sensitive species

Mason, Tom H. E.; Brivio, Francesca; Stephens, Philip A.; Apollonio, Marco; Grignolio, Stefano

doi:10.1093/beheco/arx057

Cited by 73 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…We found that summer survival is lower than winter survival for both sexes in adult alpine choughs. Cold‐adapted vertebrates are known to be directly or indirectly impacted by warm summer temperatures (Furrer et al, ), influencing their foraging strategy (Mason, Brivio, Stephens, Apollonio, & Grignolio, ), body condition (Gardner et al, ), and survival probability (White et al, ). However, we found no evidence of a correlation between summer survival, mean summer temperature, and mean summer precipitation in the alpine chough.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warm temperatures during cold season can negatively affect adult survival in an alpine bird

Chiffard

Delestrade

Yoccoz

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Climate seasonality is a predominant constraint on the lifecycles of species in alpine and polar biomes. Assessing the response of these species to climate change thus requires taking into account seasonal constraints on populations. However, interactions between seasonality, weather fluctuations, and population parameters remain poorly explored as they require long‐term studies with high sampling frequency. This study investigated the influence of environmental covariates on the demography of a corvid species, the alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus, in the highly seasonal environment of the Mont Blanc region. In two steps, we estimated: (1) the seasonal survival of categories of individuals based on their age, sex, etc., (2) the effect of environmental covariates on seasonal survival. We hypothesized that the cold season—and more specifically, the end of the cold season (spring)—would be a critical period for individuals, and we expected that weather and individual covariates would influence survival variation during critical periods. We found that while spring was a critical season for adult female survival, it was not for males. This is likely because females are dominated by males at feeding sites during snowy seasons (winter and spring), and additionally must invest energy in egg production. When conditions were not favorable, which seemed to happen when the cold season was warmer than usual, females probably reached their physiological limits. Surprisingly, adult survival was higher at the beginning of the cold season than in summer, which may result from adaptation to harsh weather in alpine and polar vertebrates. This hypothesis could be confirmed by testing it with larger sets of populations. This first seasonal analysis of individual survival over the full life cycle in a sedentary alpine bird shows that including seasonality in demographic investigations is crucial to better understand the potential impacts of climate change on cold ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warm temperatures during cold season can negatively affect adult survival in an alpine bird

Chiffard

Delestrade

Yoccoz

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…, Mason et al. , ) and thus negatively impact on body condition and, possibly, reproduction in capital breeders (Rughetti and Festa‐Bianchet ). Different hypotheses may be put forward to explain this pattern.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, for the Alpine ibex Capra ibex it has been suggested that warmer temperatures in summer would force animals to thermoregulate by using less productive areas at higher elevations, and thus consume lower quality forage, without compensating their foraging effort (Mason et al. ). Despite their potential demographic and evolutionary significance, however, the indirect effects between individual, social, and climatic variables on the reproductive performance of female ungulates in mountainous landscapes have received comparatively little attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An alternative hypothesis suggests that in mountain-dwelling ungulates such as the chamois Rupicapra rupicapra, body condition in autumn is not limited by summer resource availability: Rather, the high spring-summer temperatures may reduce the time spent foraging before autumn thus limiting the ability of individuals to acquire resources (Mason et al 2014). More recently, for the Alpine ibex Capra ibex it has been suggested that warmer temperatures in summer would force animals to thermoregulate by using less productive areas at higher elevations, and thus consume lower quality forage, without compensating their foraging effort (Mason et al 2017). Despite their potential demographic and evolutionary significance, however, the indirect effects between individual, social, and climatic variables on the reproductive performance of female ungulates in mountainous landscapes have received comparatively little attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The cooler the better? Indirect effect of spring–summer temperature on fecundity in a capital breeder

et al. 2018

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Female reproductive performance is a central component of ungulate population dynamics, and it can be influenced by individual, social, and environmental factors. Researchers have often assumed direct effects of different predictors on reproduction, yet more complex relationships should be considered when investigating temporal variations in life‐history traits within a broader eco‐evolutionary context. In this study, we explored direct effects of individual, social, and environmental predictors on female reproductive performance and investigated potential causal chains among variables. We analyzed the variation in fecundity, measured as the probability of being pregnant, in 215 adult female deer Cervus elaphus culled on the Italian Alps, with respect to age, body mass, kidney fat, jaw length, lactation status, population size, temperature and precipitation in spring–summer, temperature and snow depth in winter, and the delayed effect of spring–summer temperature. We used random forest and logistic regression models to select variables whose direct effects best explained variation in fecundity. Path analysis was used to test for alternative hypotheses of direct/indirect effects between pre‐selected weather (spring–summer temperature) and individual (age, kidney fat index [KFI]) predictors. The most important direct predictors of fecundity were age, kidney fat, and the interaction between kidney fat and spring–summer temperature. Path analysis supported the hypothesis that higher spring–summer temperature had negative, indirect effects on the probability of being pregnant, mediated by decreasing values of KFI. Our study revealed some complex, cause–effect relationships between weather stochasticity, body condition, and reproduction, possibly suggesting a conditional trade‐off between opportunity for reproduction and survival, and emphasizing how environmental variations and individual characteristics may interact to shape life‐history traits in ungulate populations.

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“…The other species either have access to widespread shaded forage all year long (roe deer, red deer) or live in alpine environments (chamois, ibex). Chamois and ibex have elsewhere been documented to move upwards in summer which allows them to avoid both thermal stress and competition with livestock (Mason, Brivio, Stephens, Apollonio, & Grignolio, ; Mason, Stephens, Apollonio, & Willis, ). Although this type of movement was not studied in our populations, we assumed nevertheless that chamois and ibex were less exposed to thermal stress than mouflon in their respective summer ranges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circadian periodicity in space use by ungulates of temperate regions: How much, when and why?

Péron

Duparc

Garel

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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When they visit and revisit specific areas, animals may reveal what they need from their home range and how they acquire information. The temporal dimension of such movement recursions, that is, periodicity, is however rarely studied, yet potentially bears a species, population or individual-specific signature. A recent method allows estimating the contribution of periodic patterns to the variance in a movement path. We applied it to 709 individuals from five ungulate species, looking for species signatures in the form of seasonal variation in the intensity of circadian patterns. Circadian patterns were commonplace in the movement tracks, but the amount of variance they explained was highly variable among individuals. It increased in intensity during spring and summer, when key resources were spatially segregated, and decreased during winter, when food availability was more uniformly low. Other periodicity-inducing mechanisms supported by our comparison of species- and sex-specific patterns involve young antipredator behaviour, territoriality and behavioural thermoregulation. Model-based continuous-time movement metrics represent a new avenue for researchers interested in finding individual-, population- or species-specific signatures in heterogeneous movement databases featuring various study designs and sampling resolutions. However, we observed large amounts of individual variation, so comparative analyses should ideally use both GPS and animal-borne loggers to augment the discriminatory power and be based on large samples. We briefly outline potential uses of the intensity of circadian patterns as a metric for the study of animal personality and community ecology.

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The behavioral trade-off between thermoregulation and foraging in a heat-sensitive species

Cited by 73 publications

References 51 publications

Warm temperatures during cold season can negatively affect adult survival in an alpine bird

Warm temperatures during cold season can negatively affect adult survival in an alpine bird

The cooler the better? Indirect effect of spring–summer temperature on fecundity in a capital breeder

Circadian periodicity in space use by ungulates of temperate regions: How much, when and why?

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