Early growth, dominance acquisition and lifetime reproductive success in male and female cooperative meerkats

Ecology and Evolution
Sinéad EnglishTim H Clutton-Brock

Abstract

In polygynous species, variance in reproductive success is higher in males than females. There is consequently stronger selection for competitive traits in males and early growth can have a greater influence on later fitness in males than in females. As yet, little is known about sex differences in the effect of early growth on subsequent breeding success in species where variance in reproductive success is higher in females than males, and competitive traits are under stronger selection in females. Greater variance in reproductive success has been documented in several singular cooperative breeders. Here, we investigated consequences of early growth for later reproductive success in wild meerkats. We found that, despite the absence of dimorphism, females who exhibited faster growth until nutritional independence were more likely to become dominant, whereas early growth did not affect dominance acquisition in males. Among those individuals who attained dominance, there was no further influence of early growth on dominance tenure or lifetime reproductive success in males or females. These findings suggest that early growth effects on competitive abilities and fitness may reflect the intensity of intrasexual competition even in s...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 16, 2016·Behavioral Ecology : Official Journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology·Harry H MarshallMichael A Cant
Sep 1, 2017·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Dominic L CramTim Clutton-Brock
Jun 26, 2014·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·E HuchardT Clutton-Brock
Dec 19, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Mark DybleTim Clutton-Brock
Apr 11, 2019·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Ben DantzerTim H Clutton-Brock

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Software Mentioned

lme4
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