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Fluctuating food resources influence developmental plasticity in wild boar.
- Source :
-
Biology letters [Biol Lett] 2013 Jul 31; Vol. 9 (5), pp. 20130419. Date of Electronic Publication: 2013 Jul 31 (Print Publication: 2013). - Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- To maximize long-term average reproductive success, individuals can diversify the phenotypes of offspring produced within a reproductive event by displaying the 'coin-flipping' tactic. Wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) females have been reported to adopt this tactic. However, whether the magnitude of developmental plasticity within a litter depends on stochasticity in food resources has not been yet investigated. From long-term monitoring, we found that juvenile females produced similar-sized fetuses within a litter independent of food availability. By contrast, adult females adjusted their relative allocation to littermates to the amount of food resources, by providing a similar allocation to all littermates in years of poor food resources but producing highly diversified offspring phenotypes within a litter in years of abundant food resources. By minimizing sibling rivalry, such a plastic reproductive tactic allows adult wild boar females to maximize the number of littermates for a given breeding event.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1744-957X
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Biology letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 23904566
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0419