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1. Life history theory predicts allocation of energy to reproduction varies with maternal age, but additional maternal features may be important to the allocation of energy to reproduction. 2. We aimed to characterize age-specific variation in maternal allocation and assess the relationship between maternal allocation and other static and dynamic maternal features. 3. Mass measurements of 531 mothers and pups were used with Bayesian hierarchical models to explain the relationship between diverse maternal attributes and both the proportion of mass allocated by Weddell seal mothers, and the efficiency of mass transfer from mother to pup during lactation as well as the weaning mass of pups. 4. Our results demonstrated that maternal mass was strongly and positively associated with the relative reserves allocated by a mother and a pup's weaning mass but that the efficiency of mass transfer declines with maternal parturition mass. Birthdate was positively associated with proportion mass allocation and pup weaning mass, but mass transfer efficiency was predicted to be highest at the mean birthdate. The relative allocation of maternal reserves declined with maternal age but the efficiency of mass transfer to pups increases, suggestive of selective disappearance of poor-quality mothers. 5. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple maternal features when assessing variation in maternal allocation.
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Inherent versus random variation in fitness of elephant seals: offspring quality and quantity
Variation in reproductive success is the basis of evolution and allows species to respond to the environment, but only when it is based on fixed individual variation that is heritable. Several recent studies suggest that observed variation in reproduction is due to chance, not inherent individual differences. Our aim was to quantify inherent versus neutral variation in fitness of northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris (Gill, 1866)) females, including both quality and quantity of their offspring. Using 44 years of observations at Año Nuevo in California, we assembled lifetime pup production of 1065 individual females and mass at weaning for 2120 of their pups. Females varied significantly in mean lifetime mass of their pups, with 28% of the variance due to fixed individual differences among mothers. Variation was repeatable over 6 years of a mother’s lifetime and heritable (h = 0.48). Moreover, pup mass at weaning was associated with future lifetime fitness, since larger pups had a higher chance of surviving to breed. Larger pups, however, did not produce more offspring once breeding, and lifetime pup production was not heritable. Traits related to offspring quality in elephant seals were inherently different among females, but variation in pup production was neutral.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2052497
- PAR ID:
- 10637699
- Publisher / Repository:
- Canadian Journal of Zoology
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Canadian Journal of Zoology
- Volume:
- 102
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 0008-4301
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 759 to 770
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2023-0166
