Journal article
Individual heterogeneity and offspring sex affect the growth–reproduction trade-off in a mammal with indeterminate growth
U Gélin, ME Wilson, J Cripps, G Coulson, M Festa-Bianchet
Oecologia | Published : 2016
Abstract
Reproduction can lead to a trade-off with growth, particularly when individuals reproduce before completing body growth. Kangaroos have indeterminate growth and may always face this trade-off. We combined an experimental manipulation of reproductive effort and multi-year monitoring of a large sample size of marked individuals in two populations of eastern grey kangaroos to test the predictions (1) that reproduction decreases skeletal growth and mass gain and (2) that mass loss leads to reproductive failure. We also tested if sex-allocation strategies influenced these trade-offs. Experimental reproductive suppression revealed negative effects of reproduction on mass gain and leg growth from 1..
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Awarded by Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank all students and volunteers who assisted with kangaroo captures, and Sebastien Rioux-Paquette for statistical advice. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Parks Victoria, the Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP0560344) and the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment provided financial support. We thank Parks Victoria and the Anglesea Golf Club for logistic support. Research Endowment Animal handling and experimental procedures were approved by the Animal Care Committee of the Universite de Sherbrooke (protocol MFB-2012-2) and by the Faculty of Science Animal Ethics Committee of the University of Melbourne (Projects 486-004-0-92-1157, 654-125-0-94-1617 and 06146).