10.5061/DRYAD.F4QRFJ6WR
Pelabon, Christophe
0000-0002-8630-8983
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Festa-Bianchet, Marco
Université de Sherbrooke
Côté, Steeve
0000-0002-4875-1917
Université Laval
Toigo, Carole
French Biodiversity Office
Garel, Mathieu
French Biodiversity Office
Loison, Anne
Grenoble Alpes University
Effects of population density on static allometry between horn length and
body mass in mountain ungulates
Dryad
dataset
2021
FOS: Natural sciences
Density dependence
Alpine ungulates
horn
The Research Council of Norway
https://ror.org/00epmv149
287214
2021-09-15T00:00:00Z
2021-09-15T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.08726
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5508669
521318 bytes
3
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Little is known about the effects of environmental variation on allometric
relationships of condition-dependent traits, especially in wild
populations. We estimated sex-specific static allometry between horn
length and body mass in four populations of mountain ungulates that
experienced periods of contrasting density over the course of the study.
These species displayed contrasting sexual dimorphism in horn size; high
dimorphism in Capra ibex and Ovis canadensis and low dimorphism in
Rupicapra rupicapra and Oreamnos americanus. The effects of density on
static allometric slopes were weak and inconsistent while allometric
intercepts were generally lower at high density, especially in males from
species with high sexual dimorphism in horn length. These results confirm
that static allometric slopes are more canalized than allometric
intercepts against environmental variation induced by changes in
population density, particularly when traits appear more costly to produce
and maintain.
The methods to collect the data are described in detail in the supporting
information of the paper.
See Readme file.