10.5061/DRYAD.K3J9KD560
Larue, Benjamin
0000-0002-4608-9288
Université de Sherbrooke
Hamel, Sandra
Université Laval
Côté, Steeve D.
Université Laval
Pelletier, Fanie
Université de Sherbrooke
Festa-Bianchet, Marco
Université de Sherbrooke
Data from: Growth and reproduction trade-offs can estimate previous
reproductive history in alpine ungulates
Dryad
dataset
2021
FOS: Biological sciences
2021-01-14T00:00:00Z
2021-01-14T00:00:00Z
en
124789 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1. Life-history theory predicts energy allocation trade-offs between
traits when resources are limited. If females reduce allocation to growth
when they reproduce, annual growth could reveal past reproductive effort,
which would be useful to assess population dynamics and harvest
sustainability. The potential and accuracy of growth measures for
predicting reproductive success have rarely been evaluated with
individuals with known reproductive history. 2. We used long-term
monitoring of annual growth and reproduction of marked female bighorn
sheep and mountain goats, two species in which primiparity normally occurs
well before growth completion, to evaluate growth vs. reproduction
trade-offs and their potential for predicting reproductive history of
young females using mixed models and 10-fold block cross-validation. 3. We
documented a significant reduction in mass gain and horn growth in young
reproducing females of both species. This trade-off was affected by
individual differences in energy acquisition and allocation, because
population density and previous allocation to growth affected the
trade-off. We then parametrized models to predict individual reproductive
history of young females based on the growth traits subjected to a
reproductive trade-off. 4. The accuracy of predictive models ranged from
85.2% to 91.0% across species and traits, indicating that growth is a good
predictor of reproductive history. This method is especially useful for
population management of species with traits that form permanent visible
yearly annuli because they retain a record of annual growth that allows
retrospective estimation of reproductive history over multiple years. 5.
Synthesis and applications. We show that because growth significantly
decreased in years of allocation to reproduction, annual growth increments
provide insights on reproductive history of young females. Population or
temporal differences in reproduction of young females affect demographic
rates and sustainable harvest. Growth measures of traits that form yearly
annuli, such as teeth and horns, could be easily obtained at a low cost
from animals harvested or found dead in multiple species. Thus, predictive
models of reproductive history based on annual growth could assist
conservation and management in a broad range of species.