SCIENCE@home

Long-term effects of litter characteristics on reproduction in female cavies (Cavia aperea)

Sabine Kraus,Fritz Trillmich,Anja Guenther

Published 2024 in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

ABSTRACT

In mammals, birth mass is an important predictor of early growth and survival. Within litters, heavier siblings are usually able to outcompete smaller siblings and gain more resources, thereby often permanently shaping phenotypic development. Early body size and growth are particularly important for later fitness. Only few studies investigated if and how differences within the early family environment contribute to long-term variation in fitness among individuals. We quantified if initial differences in size translate to size differences in adulthood and whether birth mass, relative size within the litter, litter size or the litter sex-ratio affect maturation and reproductive output of female wild cavies (Cavia aperea). Initial differences in mass were maintained until animals reached maximum adult mass at two years of age. Heavier sisters matured earlier and invested more into their first litter than smaller sisters, presumably because smaller sisters invested more into their own growth during the first pregnancy. Growing up in mixed-sexed litters in comparison to female-only litters slowed down maturation in smaller but not the heaviest female within a litter and had no effect on female reproductive effort. Variation in reproduction of multiparous females was to a lesser extent explained by the initial relative size of siblings. Offspring survival to independence was high but slightly lower when mothers had been born as smaller sisters. Our results demonstrate that factors of the early family environment not only affect immediate offspring development but lead to long-term fitness consequences. Environmental conditions during an individuals’ early life can have profound long-term consequences. For many animals, siblings represent one of the most important components of the early social environment during development, with larger siblings typically being competitively superior. We here show for the cavy (Cavia aperea) that such early sibling differences affect the timing and investment into first reproduction and potential life-long fitness in a precocial mammal. Initial size differences between siblings persist long into adulthood. Heavier sisters matured earlier than their smaller sisters and invested more into the first litter. Initial size differences among siblings even explained variation in later reproduction. In conclusion, the slight advantage gained by larger relative size within a litter explains a substantial part of individual differences in lifetime fitness.

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-60 of 60 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY

  • No citing papers are available for this paper.

Showing 0-0 of 0 citing papers · Page 1 of 1