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Rutovskaya MV, Volodin IA, Naidenko SV, Erofeeva MN, Alekseeva GS, Zhuravleva PS, Volobueva KA, Kim MD, Volodina EV. Relationship between acoustic traits of protesting cries of domestic kittens (Felis catus) and their individual chances for survival. Behav Processes 2024; 216:105009. [PMID: 38395238 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2024.105009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 02/17/2024] [Accepted: 02/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
Domestic cat (Felis catus) mothers may rely on offspring cries to allocate resources in use of individuals with greater chances for survival and sacrifice the weak ones in case of impossibility to raise the entire large litter. Potential victims of this maternal strategy can enhance their chances of survival, by producing vocalizations with traits mimicking those of higher-quality offspring. We compared acoustic traits of 4990 cries produced during blood sampling by 57 two-week-old captive feral kittens (28 males, 29 females); 47 of them survived to 90 days of age and 10 died by reasons not related to traumas or aggression. No relationship was found between acoustic parameters and kitten survival, however, positive relationship was found between survival and body weight. The cries had moderate cues to individuality and lacked cues to sex. Body weight correlated positively with fundamental frequency and negatively with call rate, duration, peak frequency and power quartiles. We discuss that dishonesty of acoustic traits of kitten quality could develop as adaptation for misleading a mother from allocation resources between the weaker and stronger individuals, thus enhancing individual chances for survival for the weaker littermates. Physical constraint, as body weight, may prevent extensive developing the deceptive vocal traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina V Rutovskaya
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Ilya A Volodin
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorobievy Gory, 1/12, Moscow 119234, Russia.
| | - Sergey V Naidenko
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Mariya N Erofeeva
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Galina S Alekseeva
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Polina S Zhuravleva
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Kseniya A Volobueva
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Mariya D Kim
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Elena V Volodina
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect, 33, Moscow 119071, Russia
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2
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Tetzlaff SJ, Vizentin‐Bugoni J, Sperry JH, Davis MA, Clark RW, Repp RA, Schuett GW. Fission-fusion dynamics in the social networks of a North American pitviper. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10339. [PMID: 37554395 PMCID: PMC10405236 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Many animal species exist in fission-fusion societies, where the size and composition of conspecific groups change spatially and temporally. To help investigate such phenomena, social network analysis (SNA) has emerged as a powerful conceptual and analytical framework for assessing patterns of interconnectedness and quantifying group-level interactions. We leveraged behavioral observations via radiotelemetry and genotypic data from a long-term (>10 years) study on the pitviper Crotalus atrox (western diamondback rattlesnake) and used SNA to quantify the first robust demonstration of social network structures for any free-living snake. Group-level interactions among adults in this population resulted in structurally modular networks (i.e., distinct clusters of interacting individuals) for fidelis use of communal winter dens (denning network), mating behaviors (pairing network), and offspring production (parentage network). Although the structure of each network was similar, the size and composition of groups varied among them. Specifically, adults associated with moderately sized social groups at winter dens but often engaged in reproductive behaviors-both at and away from dens-with different and fewer partners. Additionally, modules formed by individuals in the pairing network were frequently different from those in the parentage network, likely due to multiple mating, long-term sperm storage by females, and resultant multiple paternity. Further evidence for fission-fusion dynamics exhibited by this population-interactions were rare when snakes were dispersing to and traversing their spring-summer home ranges (to which individuals show high fidelity), despite ample opportunities to associate with numerous conspecifics that had highly overlapping ranges. Taken together, we show that long-term datasets incorporating SNA with spatial and genetic information provide robust and unique insights to understanding the social structure of cryptic taxa that are understudied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sasha J. Tetzlaff
- U.S. Army ERDC‐CERLChampaignIllinoisUSA
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research InstituteUniversity of Illinois Urbana‐ChampaignChampaignIllinoisUSA
| | - Jeferson Vizentin‐Bugoni
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biologia Animal, Instituto de BiologiaUniversidade Federal de PelotasPelotasBrazil
| | - Jinelle H. Sperry
- U.S. Army ERDC‐CERLChampaignIllinoisUSA
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignUrbanaIllinoisUSA
| | - Mark A. Davis
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research InstituteUniversity of Illinois Urbana‐ChampaignChampaignIllinoisUSA
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignUrbanaIllinoisUSA
| | - Rulon W. Clark
- Chiricahua Desert MuseumRodeoNew MexicoUSA
- Department of BiologySan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoCaliforniaUSA
| | | | - Gordon W. Schuett
- Chiricahua Desert MuseumRodeoNew MexicoUSA
- Department of Biology, Neuroscience InstituteGeorgia State UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA
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3
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Sugianto NA, Newman C, Macdonald DW, Buesching CD. Effects of weather and social factors on hormone levels in the European badger (Meles meles). ZOOLOGY 2023; 158:126093. [PMID: 37149943 DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2023.126093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Revised: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Animals in the wild continually experience changes in environmental and social conditions, which they respond to with behavioural, physiological and morphological adaptations related to individual phenotypic quality. During unfavourable environmental conditions, reproduction can be traded-off against self-maintenance, mediated through changes in reproductive hormone levels. Using the European badger (Meles meles) as a model species, we examine how testosterone in males and oestrogens in females respond to marked deviations in weather from the long-term mean (rainfall and temperature, where badger earthworm food supply is weather dependent), and to social factors (number of adult males and females per social group and total adults in the population), in relation to age, weight and head-body length. Across seasons, testosterone levels correlated postively with body weight and rainfall variability, whereas oestrone correlated positively with population density, but negatively with temperature variability. Restricting analyses to the mating season (spring), heavier males had higher testosterone levels and longer females had higher oestradiol levels. Spring oestrone levels were lower when temperatures were above normal. That we see these effects for this generally adaptive species with a broad bioclimatic niche serves to highlight that climatic effects (especially with the threat of anthropogenic climate change) on reproductive physiology warrant careful attention in a conservation context.
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Affiliation(s)
- N A Sugianto
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney OX13 5QL, UK.
| | - C Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney OX13 5QL, UK; Cook's Lake Farming Forestry and Wildlife Inc (Ecological Consultancy), Queens County, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - D W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney OX13 5QL, UK
| | - C D Buesching
- Cook's Lake Farming Forestry and Wildlife Inc (Ecological Consultancy), Queens County, Nova Scotia, Canada; Department of Biology, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
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4
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Rasmussen SL, Berg TB, Martens HJ, Jones OR. Anyone Can Get Old-All You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs ( Erinaceus europaeus). Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:ani13040626. [PMID: 36830413 PMCID: PMC9951656 DOI: 10.3390/ani13040626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2022] [Revised: 02/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The European hedgehog is in decline, triggering a need to monitor population dynamics to optimise conservation initiatives directed at this species. By counting periosteal growth lines, we determined the age of 388 dead European hedgehogs collected through citizen science in Denmark. The overall mean age was 1.8 years (1.6 years for females and 2.1 years for males), ranging between 0 and 16 years. We constructed life tables showing life expectancies at 2.1 years for females and 2.6 years for males. We discovered that male hedgehogs were more likely to have died in traffic than females, but traffic-related deaths peaked in July for both sexes. A sex difference was detected for non-traffic deaths, as most males died in July, and most females died in September. We created empirical survivorship curves and hazard curves showing that the risk of death for male hedgehogs remains approximately constant with age. In contrast, the risk of death for females increases with age. Most of the collected road-killed individuals died in rural habitats. The degree of inbreeding did not influence longevity. These new insights are important for preparing conservation strategies for the European hedgehog.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Lund Rasmussen
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon OX13 5QL, UK
- Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, DK-9220 Aalborg, Denmark
- Correspondence:
| | - Thomas B. Berg
- Naturama, 30 Dronningemaen, DK-5700 Svendborg, Denmark
- Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, 55 Campusvej, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark
| | - Helle Jakobe Martens
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Section for Forest, Nature and Biomass, Copenhagen University, 23 Rolighedsvej, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
| | - Owen R. Jones
- Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, 55 Campusvej, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark
- Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics (CPop), University of Southern Denmark, 55 Campusvej, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark
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5
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Lam DK, Frantz AC, Burke T, Geffen E, Sin SYW. Both selection and drift drive the spatial pattern of adaptive genetic variation in a wild mammal. Evolution 2023; 77:221-238. [PMID: 36626810 DOI: 10.1093/evolut/qpac014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2021] [Revised: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has been intensively studied for the relative effects of different evolutionary forces in recent decades. Pathogen-mediated balancing selection is generally thought to explain the high polymorphism observed in MHC genes, but it is still unclear to what extent MHC diversity is shaped by selection relative to neutral drift. In this study, we genotyped MHC class II DRB genes and 15 neutral microsatellite loci across 26 geographic populations of European badgers (Meles meles) covering most of their geographic range. By comparing variation of microsatellite and diversity of MHC at different levels, we demonstrate that both balancing selection and drift have shaped the evolution of MHC genes. When only MHC allelic identity was investigated, the spatial pattern of MHC variation was similar to that of microsatellites. By contrast, when functional aspects of the MHC diversity (e.g., immunological supertypes) were considered, balancing selection appears to decrease genetic structuring across populations. Our comprehensive sampling and analytical approach enable us to conclude that the likely mechanisms of selection are heterozygote advantage and/or rare-allele advantage. This study is a clear demonstration of how both balancing selection and genetic drift simultaneously affect the evolution of MHC genes in a widely distributed wild mammal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Derek Kong Lam
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Alain C Frantz
- Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
| | - Terry Burke
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Eli Geffen
- School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Simon Yung Wa Sin
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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6
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Fokidis HB, Brock T, Newman C, Macdonald DW, Buesching CD. Assessing chronic stress in wild mammals using claw-derived cortisol: a validation using European badgers ( Meles meles). CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 11:coad024. [PMID: 37179707 PMCID: PMC10171820 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coad024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Measuring stress experienced by wild mammals is increasingly important in the context of human-induced rapid environmental change and initiatives to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. Glucocorticoids (GC), such as cortisol, mediate responses by promoting physiological adjustments during environmental perturbations. Measuring cortisol is a popular technique; however, this often reveals only recent short-term stress such as that incurred by restraining the animal to sample blood, corrupting the veracity of this approach. Here we present a protocol using claw cortisol, compared with hair cortisol, as a long-term stress bio-indicator, which circumvents this constraint, where claw tissue archives the individual's GC concentration over preceding weeks. We then correlate our findings against detailed knowledge of European badger life history stressors. Based on a solid-phase extraction method, we assessed how claw cortisol concentrations related to season and badger sex, age and body-condition using a combination of generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) (n = 668 samples from 273 unique individuals) followed by finer scale mixed models for repeated measures (MMRM) (n = 152 re-captured individuals). Claw and hair cortisol assays achieved high accuracy, precision and repeatability, with similar sensitivity. The top GLMM model for claw cortisol included age, sex, season and the sex*season interaction. Overall, claw cortisol levels were significantly higher among males than females, but strongly influenced by season, where females had higher levels than males in autumn. The top fine scale MMRM model included sex, age and body condition, with claw cortisol significantly higher in males, older and thinner individuals. Hair cortisol was more variable than claw; nevertheless, there was a positive correlation after removing 34 outliers. We discuss strong support for these stress-related claw cortisol patterns from previous studies of badger biology. Given the potential of this technique, we conclude that it has broad application in conservation biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Bobby Fokidis
- Corresponding author: Department of Biology, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, USA.
| | - Taylor Brock
- Department of Biology, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Avenue, Winter Park, Florida, 32789-4499, USA
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abindgon Rd, Tubney, OX13 5QL, UK
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abindgon Rd, Tubney, OX13 5QL, UK
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus, 3187 University Way, Kelowna, British Columbia, V1V1V7, Canada
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7
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van Lieshout SHJ, Badás EP, Bright Ross JG, Bretman A, Newman C, Buesching CD, Burke T, Macdonald DW, Dugdale HL. Early-life seasonal, weather and social effects on telomere length in a wild mammal. Mol Ecol 2022; 31:5993-6007. [PMID: 34101279 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Early-life environmental conditions can provide a source of individual variation in life-history strategies and senescence patterns. Conditions experienced in early life can be quantified by measuring telomere length, which can act as a biomarker of survival probability in some species. Here, we investigate whether seasonal changes, weather conditions and group size are associated with early-life and/or early-adulthood telomere length in a wild population of European badgers (Meles meles). We found substantial intra-annual changes in telomere length during the first 3 years of life, where within-individual effects showed shorter telomere lengths in the winter following the first spring and a trend for longer telomere lengths in the second spring compared to the first winter. In terms of weather conditions, cubs born in warmer, wetter springs with low rainfall variability had longer early-life (3-12 months old) telomeres. Additionally, cubs born in groups with more cubs had marginally longer early-life telomeres, providing no evidence of resource constraint from cub competition. We also found that the positive association between early-life telomere length and cub survival probability remained when social and weather variables were included. Finally, after sexual maturity, in early adulthood (i.e., 12-36 months) we found no significant association between same-sex adult group size and telomere length (i.e., no effect of intrasexual competition). Overall, we show that controlling for seasonal effects, which are linked to food availability, is important in telomere length analyses, and that variation in telomere length in badgers reflects early-life conditions and also predicts first year cub survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sil H J van Lieshout
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.,NERC Environmental Omics Visitor Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Elisa P Badás
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.,Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Julius G Bright Ross
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Abingdon, UK
| | - Amanda Bretman
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Abingdon, UK
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Abingdon, UK.,Department of Biology, The University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Terry Burke
- NERC Environmental Omics Visitor Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Abingdon, UK
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.,Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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8
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Newman C, Tsai MS, Buesching CD, Holland PWH, Macdonald DW. The genome sequence of the European badger, Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758). Wellcome Open Res 2022. [DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.18230.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a haplotype resolved, diploid genome assembly from a male Meles meles (European badger; Chordata; Mammalia; Carnivora; Mustelidae) using the trio binning approach. The genome sequence is 2,739 megabases in span. The majority of the assembly (95.16%) is scaffolded into 23 chromosomal pseudomolecules with the X and Y sex chromosomes assembled. The complete mitochondrial genome was also assembled and is 16.4 kilobases in length.
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9
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A fat chance of survival: Body condition provides life-history dependent buffering of environmental change in a wild mammal population. CLIMATE CHANGE ECOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecochg.2021.100022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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10
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Batova ON, Vasilieva NA, Titov SV, Savinetskaya LE, Tchabovsky AV. Female polyandry dilutes inbreeding in a solitary fast-living hibernator. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03086-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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11
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Cockburn A, Peñalba JV, Jaccoud D, Kilian A, Brouwer L, Double MC, Margraf N, Osmond HL, Kruuk LEB, van de Pol M. hiphop: Improved paternity assignment among close relatives using a simple exclusion method for biallelic markers. Mol Ecol Resour 2021; 21:1850-1865. [PMID: 33750003 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2020] [Revised: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Assignment of parentage with molecular markers is most difficult when the true parents have close relatives in the adult population. Here, we present an efficient solution to that problem by extending simple exclusion approaches to parentage analysis with single nucleotide polymorphic markers (SNPs). We augmented the previously published homozygote opposite test (hot), which counts mismatches due to the offspring and candidate parent having different homozygous genotypes, with an additional test. In this case, parents homozygous for the same SNP are incompatible with heterozygous offspring (i.e., "Homozygous Identical Parents, Heterozygous Offspring are Precluded": hiphop). We tested this approach in a cooperatively breeding bird, the superb fairy-wren, Malurus cyaneus, where rates of extra-pair paternity are exceptionally high, and where paternity assignment is challenging because breeding males typically have first-order adult relatives in their neighbourhood. Combining the tests and conditioning on the maternal genotype with a set of 1376 autosomal SNPs always allowed us to distinguish a single most likely sire from his relatives, and also to identify cases where the true sire must have been unsampled. In contrast, if just the hot test was used, we failed to identify a single most-likely sire in 2.5% of cases. Resampling enabled us to create guidelines for the number of SNPs required when first-order relatives coexist in the mating pool. Our method, implemented in the R package hiphop, therefore provides unambiguous parentage assignments even in systems with complex social organisation. We also identified a suite of Z- and W-linked SNPs that always identified sex correctly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Cockburn
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Joshua V Peñalba
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Division of Evolutionary Biology, Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen, Munchen, Germany
| | - Damian Jaccoud
- Diversity Arrays Technology Pty Ltd, Bruce, ACT, Australia
| | - Andrzej Kilian
- Diversity Arrays Technology Pty Ltd, Bruce, ACT, Australia
| | - Lyanne Brouwer
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Department of Animal Ecology and Physiology, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Michael C Double
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, TAS, Australia
| | - Nicolas Margraf
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Musée d'histoire naturelle de La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchatel, Switzerland
| | - Helen L Osmond
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Loeske E B Kruuk
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Martijn van de Pol
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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12
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Städele V, Vigilant L, Strum SC, Silk JB. Extended male–female bonds and potential for prolonged paternal investment in a polygynandrous primate (Papio anubis). Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.01.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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13
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van Lieshout SHJ, Sparks AM, Bretman A, Newman C, Buesching CD, Burke T, Macdonald DW, Dugdale HL. Estimation of environmental, genetic and parental age at conception effects on telomere length in a wild mammal. J Evol Biol 2020; 34:296-308. [PMID: 33113164 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2020] [Revised: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 10/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Understanding individual variation in fitness-related traits requires separating the environmental and genetic determinants. Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that are thought to be a biomarker of senescence as their length predicts mortality risk and reflect the physiological consequences of environmental conditions. The relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to individual variation in telomere length is, however, unclear, yet important for understanding its evolutionary dynamics. In particular, the evidence for transgenerational effects, in terms of parental age at conception, on telomere length is mixed. Here, we investigate the heritability of telomere length, using the 'animal model', and parental age at conception effects on offspring telomere length in a wild population of European badgers (Meles meles). Although we found no heritability of telomere length and low evolvability (<0.001), our power to detect heritability was low and a repeatability of 2% across individual lifetimes provides a low upper limit to ordinary narrow-sense heritability. However, year (32%) and cohort (3%) explained greater proportions of the phenotypic variance in telomere length, excluding qPCR plate and row variances. There was no support for cross-sectional or within-individual parental age at conception effects on offspring telomere length. Our results indicate a lack of transgenerational effects through parental age at conception and a low potential for evolutionary change in telomere length in this population. Instead, we provide evidence that individual variation in telomere length is largely driven by environmental variation in this wild mammal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sil H J van Lieshout
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.,Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Alexandra M Sparks
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Amanda Bretman
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon, UK
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon, UK
| | - Terry Burke
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon, UK
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.,Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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14
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Tsai MS, Fogarty U, Byrne AW, O’Keeffe J, Newman C, Macdonald DW, Buesching CD. Effects of Mustelid gammaherpesvirus 1 (MusGHV-1) Reactivation in European Badger ( Meles meles) Genital Tracts on Reproductive Fitness. Pathogens 2020; 9:pathogens9090769. [PMID: 32962280 PMCID: PMC7559395 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9090769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Revised: 09/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Reactivation of latent Gammaherpesvirus in the genital tract can lead to reproductive failure in domestic animals. Nevertheless, this pathophysiology has not received formal study in wild mammals. High prevalence of Mustelid gammaherpesvirus 1 (MusGHV-1) DNA detected in the genital tracts of European badgers (Meles meles) implies that this common pathogen may be a sexual transmitted infection. Here we used PCR to test MusGHV-1 DNA prevalence in genital swabs collected from 144 wild badgers in Ireland (71 males, 73 females) to investigate impacts on male fertility indicators (sperm abundance and testes weight) and female fecundity (current reproductive output). MusGHV-1 reactivation had a negative effect on female reproduction, but not on male fertility; however males had a higher risk of MusGHV-1 reactivation than females, especially during the late-winter mating season, and genital MusGHV-1 reactivation differed between age classes, where 3–5 year old adults had significantly lower reactivation rates than younger or older ones. Negative results in foetal tissues from MusGHV-1 positive mothers indicated that cross-placental transmission was unlikely. This study has broader implications for how wide-spread gammaherpesvirus infections could affect reproductive performance in wild Carnivora species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming-shan Tsai
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK; (C.N.); (D.W.M.); (C.D.B.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Ursula Fogarty
- Irish Equine Centre, Johnstown, Naas, Co. Kildare W91 RH93, Ireland;
| | - Andrew W. Byrne
- One-Health Scientific Support Unit, Department of Agriculture, Agriculture House, Dublin 2 DO2 WK12, Ireland;
| | - James O’Keeffe
- Department of Agriculture, Agriculture House, Dublin 2 DO2 WK1, Ireland;
- Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4 D04 W6F6, Ireland
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK; (C.N.); (D.W.M.); (C.D.B.)
- Cook’s Lake Farming Forestry and Wildlife Inc (Ecological Consultancy), Queens County, NS B0J 2H0, Canada
| | - David W. Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK; (C.N.); (D.W.M.); (C.D.B.)
| | - Christina D. Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK; (C.N.); (D.W.M.); (C.D.B.)
- Cook’s Lake Farming Forestry and Wildlife Inc (Ecological Consultancy), Queens County, NS B0J 2H0, Canada
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15
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van Lieshout SHJ, Badás EP, Mason MWT, Newman C, Buesching CD, Macdonald DW, Dugdale HL. Social effects on age-related and sex-specific immune cell profiles in a wild mammal. Biol Lett 2020; 16:20200234. [PMID: 32673548 PMCID: PMC7423055 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Evidence for age-related changes in innate and adaptive immune responses is increasing in wild populations. Such changes have been linked to fitness, and knowledge of the factors driving immune response variation is important for understanding the evolution of immunity. Age-related changes in immune profiles may be owing to factors such as immune system development, sex-specific behaviour and responses to environmental conditions. Social environments may also contribute to variation in immunological responses, for example, through transmission of pathogens and stress arising from resource and mate competition. Yet, the impact of the social environment on age-related changes in immune cell profiles is currently understudied in the wild. Here, we tested the relationship between leukocyte cell composition (proportion of neutrophils and lymphocytes [innate and adaptive immunity, respectively] that were lymphocytes) and age, sex and group size in a wild population of European badgers (Meles meles). We found that the proportion of lymphocytes in early life was greater in males in smaller groups compared to larger groups, but with a faster age-related decline in smaller groups. By contrast, the proportion of lymphocytes in females was not significantly related to age or group size. Our results provide evidence of sex-specific age-related changes in immune cell profiles in a wild mammal, which are influenced by the social environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sil H J van Lieshout
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Elisa P Badás
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.,Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Michael W T Mason
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.,Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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16
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Smith K, Facka A, Powell R. Using reintroduction to elucidate breeding system, breeding phenology, and infanticide for a solitary carnivore (fisher, Pekania pennanti). CAN J ZOOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2019-0234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Breeding systems affect the timing of reproduction, spacing patterns and social organization, individual fitnesses, and population sizes. For many species, information on breeding systems and mating is limited or untested in wild populations, resulting in management actions that are incompletely informed. We used photographic data collected on a reintroduced fisher (Pekania pennanti (Erxleben, 1777)) population in northern California, USA, to test hypotheses about the breeding system, the timing of breeding, and the potential for male infanticide. We documented fishers of both sexes breeding with multiple partners in the same year, demonstrating polygynandry. We use logistic and linear regression to evaluate the timing and frequency of male visitation at 262 reproductive dens used by 50 individual females. Of 46 documented copulations and 577 male visits, 100% and 95%, respectively, occurred while females had kits in their natal dens. Seventy-five percent of documented male visits occurred before 31 March and 95% occurred before 17 April. Observed breeding occurred within 3.1 ± 1.6 days (mean ± SD) of locating females’ natal dens. We found no evidence for male-directed infanticide. Our results add precision to the timing of the reproductive cycle and provide the first descriptions of male–female interactions for wild fishers.
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Affiliation(s)
- K.P. Smith
- Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617 USA
| | - A.N. Facka
- Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617 USA
- Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617 USA
| | - R.A. Powell
- Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617 USA
- Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617 USA
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17
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Extra Territorial Excursions by European badgers are not limited by age, sex or season. Sci Rep 2020; 10:9665. [PMID: 32541685 PMCID: PMC7296015 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66809-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
European badgers (Meles meles) in medium and high density populations show strong territorial behaviour. Territories in these populations are contiguous, well-marked and often unchanging over many years. However, badgers do not always stay within their territorial boundaries. In our medium-density population, most individual badgers made extra-territorial excursions (ETEs) throughout the year. ETEs were most frequent between April and September and least frequent in December and January (the period of winter lethargy). Male badgers made longer and more frequent ETEs than females (especially between January and March, and in autumn). Breeding females made longer and more frequent ETEs than non-breeding females in November. While these peaks correspond with the main mating seasons, mating activity does not explain ETEs throughout the year. The shorter, but more frequent, ETEs in summer months may serve a monitoring purpose, rather than simply providing additional mating opportunities with badgers from outside the 'home' social group. We found that young badgers did not make regular ETEs until the summer of their second year. If badgers could be vaccinated as cubs, this would reduce any potential risk of TB spread during ETEs.
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18
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Shimozuru M, Shirane Y, Tsuruga H, Yamanaka M, Nakanishi M, Ishinazaka T, Kasai S, Nose T, Masuda Y, Fujimoto Y, Mano T, Tsubota T. Incidence of Multiple Paternity and Inbreeding in High-Density Brown Bear Populations on the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan. J Hered 2020; 110:321-331. [PMID: 30629255 DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esz002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2018] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the breeding ecology of a species is essential for the appropriate conservation and management of wildlife. In brown bears, females occasionally copulate with multiple males in one breeding season, which may lead to multiple paternity in a single litter. In contrast, inbreeding, a potential factor in the reduction of genetic diversity, may occur, particularly in threatened populations. However, few studies have reported the frequency of these phenomena in brown bear populations. Here, we investigated the incidence of multiple paternity and inbreeding in a high-density brown bear population on the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido, Japan. A total of 837 individuals collected from 1998 to 2017 were genotyped at 21 microsatellite loci, and parentage analysis was performed. Out of 70-82 litters with ≥2 offspring, 14.6-17.1% of litters were sired by multiple males. This was comparable to the rate reported in a Scandinavian population, although population density and litter size, factors that potentially affect the incidence of multiple paternity, differed between the 2 populations. Out of 222 mother-father mating pairs, 6 litters (2.7%) resulted from matings between fathers and daughters. Additionally, 1 (0.5%) and 4 (1.8%) cases of mating between maternal half-siblings and between paternal half-siblings, respectively, were observed; however, no cases of mating between mothers and sons or between full siblings were observed. Our results suggest that male-biased natal dispersal effectively limits mating between closely related individuals (aside from fathers and daughters) in brown bears.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michito Shimozuru
- The Laboratory of Wildlife Biology and Medicine, Department of Environmental Veterinary Science, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Yuri Shirane
- The Laboratory of Wildlife Biology and Medicine, Department of Environmental Veterinary Science, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Hifumi Tsuruga
- Hokkaido Research Organization, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
| | | | | | | | | | - Takane Nose
- Shiretoko Nature Foundation, Shari, Hokkaido, Japan
| | | | - Yasushi Fujimoto
- The South Shiretoko Brown Bear Information Center, Shibetsu, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Tsutomu Mano
- Hokkaido Research Organization, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Toshio Tsubota
- The Laboratory of Wildlife Biology and Medicine, Department of Environmental Veterinary Science, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan
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19
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Bright Ross JG, Newman C, Buesching CD, Macdonald DW. What lies beneath? Population dynamics conceal pace-of-life and sex ratio variation, with implications for resilience to environmental change. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2020; 26:3307-3324. [PMID: 32243650 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/07/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Life-history and pace-of-life syndrome theory predict that populations are comprised of individuals exhibiting different reproductive schedules and associated behavioural and physiological traits, optimized to prevailing social and environmental factors. Changing weather and social conditions provide in situ cues altering this life-history optimality; nevertheless, few studies have considered how tactical, sex-specific plasticity over an individual's lifespan varies in wild populations and influences population resilience. We examined the drivers of individual life-history schedules using 31 years of trapping data and 28 years of pedigree for the European badger (Meles meles L.), a long-lived, iteroparous, polygynandrous mammal that exhibits heterochrony in the timing of endocrinological puberty in male cubs. Our top model for the effects of environmental (social and weather) conditions during a badger's first year on pace-of-life explained <10% of variance in the ratio of fertility to age at first reproduction (F/α) and lifetime reproductive success. Conversely, sex ratio (SR) and sex-specific density explained 52.8% (males) and 91.0% (females) of variance in adult F/α ratios relative to the long-term population median F/α. Weather primarily affected the sexes at different life-history stages, with energy constraints limiting the onset of male reproduction but playing a large role in female strategic energy allocation, particularly in relation to ongoing mean temperature increases. Furthermore, the effects of social factors on age of first reproduction and year-to-year reproductive success covaried differently with sex, likely due to sex-specific responses to potential mate availability. For females, low same-sex densities favoured early primiparity; for males, instead, up to 10% of yearlings successfully mated at high same-sex densities. We observed substantial SR dynamism relating to differential mortality of life-history strategists within the population, and propose that shifting ratios of 'fast' and 'slow' life-history strategists contribute substantially to population dynamics and resilience to changing conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julius G Bright Ross
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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20
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Sugianto NA, Newman C, Macdonald DW, Buesching CD. Reproductive and Somatic Senescence in the European Badger (Meles meles): Evidence from Lifetime Sex-Steroid Profiles. ZOOLOGY 2020; 141:125803. [PMID: 32574816 DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2020.125803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2019] [Revised: 05/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Among the Carnivora, there is sparse evidence for any substantive fitness benefits of post reproductive lifespan (PRLS, survival after reproductive cessation, RC). Using the European badger (Meles meles) as a model species, we analyzed sex-specific cross-sectional endocrinological and morphological data to investigate: 1) age-dependent reproductive decline in sex-steroid levels versus prime reproductive age; 2) age-dependent declines in somatic condition and reproductive advertisement (from subcaudal scent gland secretion); 3) changes in reproductive success with age due to somatic and endocrinological decline; 4) occurrence of RC, PRLS, and post reproductive representation (PrR) in the population with reference to pre-pubescent hormone levels and evidenced by fewer cub assignments from pedigree. We provide strong evidence for a gradual, not abrupt, decline in sex-steroid levels with age, with both sexes following a concave (down) quadratic trend. For both sexes, the onset of decline in somatic condition commenced at the age of 3 years. In contrast, decline in reproductive hormones started at age ca. 5.5 years in females and 6 years in males, with similar rates of decline thereafter. Subcaudal gland secretion volume also decreased in both sexes, especially after age 5, suggesting less investment in reproductive advertisement. After age 3, fewer (surviving) females were assigned cubs. This coincided with the onset of somatic decline but came earlier than hormonal decline (5.5 years onwards). The decrease in offspring assignments commenced later in males at age 5-6 years; concomitant with onset of testosterone decline at 6 years. This suggests that, contrary to females, in males declining body condition does not preclude reproductive success (no 'restraint') in advance of hormonal senescence ('constraint'). There was evidence of female PRLS, with very old adults living up to 2.59 ± 1.29 years after RC; although in males this evidence was weaker. We discuss the implications of these findings for RC and PRLS in the context of adaptive and non-adaptive hypotheses. There was evidence of over 2 years of Post Reproductive Life Span in both sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Adrianna Sugianto
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, UK.
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21
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Sugiura N, Ochiai K, Yamamoto T, Kato T, Kawamoto Y, Omi T, Hayama SI. Examining multiple paternity in the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in Japan using microsatellite analysis. J Vet Med Sci 2020; 82:479-482. [PMID: 32101823 PMCID: PMC7192729 DOI: 10.1292/jvms.19-0655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We analyzed the genotypes of three pregnant females and their litters to investigate the
phenomenon of multiple paternity in wild raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes
procyonoides) using 17 microsatellite markers. If a female has mated with only
one male during estrus, then the maximum number of paternal alleles will not exceed two
among littermates with the same father. The results revealed two out of three litters had
three or four paternal alleles at one or five microsatellite loci. Therefore, the female
had mated with more than one male during estrus. To the best of our knowledge, the present
study is the first to report the possibility of multiple paternity in wild raccoon
dogs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natsuko Sugiura
- Laboratory of Wildlife Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan.,Department of Basic Science, School of Veterinary Nursing and Technology, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan
| | - Kazuhiko Ochiai
- Department of Basic Science, School of Veterinary Nursing and Technology, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan
| | - Toshiaki Yamamoto
- Department of Applied Science, School of Veterinary Nursing and Technology, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan
| | - Takuya Kato
- Laboratory of Wildlife Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan
| | - Yoshi Kawamoto
- Laboratory of Wildlife Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan
| | - Toshinori Omi
- Department of Basic Science, School of Veterinary Nursing and Technology, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan
| | - Shin-Ichi Hayama
- Laboratory of Wildlife Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, 1-7-1 Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan
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22
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Leach D, Shaw AK, Weiss‐Lehman C. Stochasticity in social structure and mating system drive extinction risk. Ecosphere 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Damon Leach
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior University of Minnesota St. Paul Minnesota 55108 USA
- School of Statistics University of Minnesota St. Paul Minnesota 55108 USA
| | - Allison K. Shaw
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior University of Minnesota St. Paul Minnesota 55108 USA
| | - Christopher Weiss‐Lehman
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior University of Minnesota St. Paul Minnesota 55108 USA
- Department of Botany University of Wyoming Laramie Wyoming 82071 USA
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23
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Gaughran A, MacWhite T, Mullen E, Maher P, Kelly DJ, Good M, Marples NM. Dispersal patterns in a medium-density Irish badger population: Implications for understanding the dynamics of tuberculosis transmission. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:13142-13152. [PMID: 31871635 PMCID: PMC6912907 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2019] [Revised: 07/26/2019] [Accepted: 09/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
European badgers (Meles meles) are group-living mustelids implicated in the spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB) to cattle and act as a wildlife reservoir for the disease. In badgers, only a minority of individuals disperse from their natal social group. However, dispersal may be extremely important for the spread of TB, as dispersers could act as hubs for disease transmission. We monitored a population of 139 wild badgers over 7 years in a medium-density population (1.8 individuals/km2). GPS tracking collars were applied to 80 different individuals. Of these, we identified 25 dispersers, 14 of which were wearing collars as they dispersed. This allowed us to record the process of dispersal in much greater detail than ever before. We show that dispersal is an extremely complex process, and measurements of straight-line distance between old and new social groups can severely underestimate how far dispersers travel. Assumptions of straight-line travel can also underestimate direct and indirect interactions and the potential for disease transmission. For example, one female disperser which eventually settled 1.5 km from her natal territory traveled 308 km and passed through 22 different territories during dispersal. Knowledge of badgers' ranging behavior during dispersal is crucial to understanding the dynamics of TB transmission, and for designing appropriate interventions, such as vaccination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aoibheann Gaughran
- Department of ZoologySchool of Natural SciencesTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- Trinity Centre for Biodiversity ResearchTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | | | - Enda Mullen
- Department of Culture, Heritage and the GaeltachtNational Parks and Wildlife ServiceDublinIreland
| | - Peter Maher
- Department of Agriculture, Food and the MarineDublinIreland
| | - David J. Kelly
- Department of ZoologySchool of Natural SciencesTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- Trinity Centre for Biodiversity ResearchTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Margaret Good
- Department of ZoologySchool of Natural SciencesTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- Trinity Centre for Biodiversity ResearchTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Nicola M. Marples
- Department of ZoologySchool of Natural SciencesTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- Trinity Centre for Biodiversity ResearchTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
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24
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Rosen LE, Fogarty U, O’Keeffe JJ, Olea-Popelka FJ. Monitoring European badger (Meles meles) reproduction under evolving bovine tuberculosis management in Ireland. EUR J WILDLIFE RES 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10344-019-1340-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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25
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Chan R, Dunlop J, Spencer PBS. Highly promiscuous paternity in mainland and island populations of the endangered Northern Quoll. J Zool (1987) 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- R. Chan
- Environmental and Conservation Sciences Murdoch University Murdoch WA Australia
| | - J. Dunlop
- Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions Kensington WA Australia
| | - P. B. S. Spencer
- Environmental and Conservation Sciences Murdoch University Murdoch WA Australia
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26
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Westall TL, Cypher BL, Ralls K, Wilbert T. OBSERVATIONS OF SOCIAL POLYGYNY, ALLONURSING, EXTRAPAIR COPULATION, AND INBREEDING IN URBAN SAN JOAQUIN KIT FOXES (VULPES MACROTIS MUTICA). SOUTHWEST NAT 2019. [DOI: 10.1894/0038-4909-63-4-271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tory L. Westall
- Endangered Species Recovery Program, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA 95382 (TLW, BLC)
| | - Brian L. Cypher
- Endangered Species Recovery Program, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA 95382 (TLW, BLC)
| | - Katherine Ralls
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, DC 20008 (KR, TW)
| | - Tammy Wilbert
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, DC 20008 (KR, TW)
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27
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Lieshout SHJ, Bretman A, Newman C, Buesching CD, Macdonald DW, Dugdale HL. Individual variation in early‐life telomere length and survival in a wild mammal. Mol Ecol 2019; 28:4152-4165. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.15212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2018] [Revised: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sil H. J. Lieshout
- School of Biology Faculty of Biological Sciences University of Leeds Leeds UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility Department of Animal and Plant Sciences University of Sheffield Sheffield UK
| | - Amanda Bretman
- School of Biology Faculty of Biological Sciences University of Leeds Leeds UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Department of Zoology University of Oxford Abingdon UK
| | - Christina D. Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Department of Zoology University of Oxford Abingdon UK
| | - David W. Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Department of Zoology University of Oxford Abingdon UK
| | - Hannah L. Dugdale
- School of Biology Faculty of Biological Sciences University of Leeds Leeds UK
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28
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Sugianto N, Newman C, Macdonald D, Buesching C. Extrinsic factors affecting cub development contribute to sexual size dimorphism in the European badger (Meles meles). ZOOLOGY 2019; 135:125688. [DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2019.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2018] [Revised: 04/27/2019] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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29
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Marjamäki PH, Dugdale HL, Dawson DA, McDonald RA, Delahay R, Burke T, Wilson AJ. Individual variation and the source-sink group dynamics of extra-group paternity in a social mammal. Behav Ecol 2019; 30:301-312. [PMID: 30971858 PMCID: PMC6450204 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2018] [Revised: 10/17/2018] [Accepted: 11/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Movement of individuals, or their genes, can influence eco-evolutionary processes in structured populations. We have limited understanding of the extent to which spatial behavior varies among groups and individuals within populations. Here, we use genetic pedigree reconstruction in a long-term study of European badgers (Meles meles) to characterize the extent of extra-group paternity, occurring as a consequence of breeding excursions, and to test hypothesized drivers of variation at multiple levels. We jointly estimate parentage and paternity distance (PD; distance between a cub's natal and its father's social group), and test whether population density and sex ratio influence mean annual PD. We also model cub-level PD and extra-group paternity (EGP) to test for variation among social groups and parental individuals. Mean PD varied among years but was not explained by population density or sex ratio. However, cub-level analysis shows strong effects of social group, and parental identities, with some parental individuals being consistently more likely to produce cubs with extra-group partners. Group effects were partially explained by local sex ratio. There was also a strong negative correlation between maternal and paternal social group effects on cub paternity distance, indicating source-sink dynamics. Our analyses of paternity distance and EGP indicate variation in extra-group mating at multiple levels-among years, social groups and individuals. The latter in particular is a phenomenon seldom documented and suggests that gene flow among groups may be disproportionately mediated by a nonrandom subset of adults, emphasizing the importance of the individual in driving eco-evolutionary dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula H Marjamäki
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Deborah A Dawson
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Robbie A McDonald
- Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
| | - Richard Delahay
- National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Gloucestershire, UK
| | - Terry Burke
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Alastair J Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
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30
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Hoogland JL, Trott R, Keller SR. Polyandry and Polygyny in a Social Rodent: An Integrative Perspective Based on Social Organization, Copulations, and Genetics. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
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31
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Ebensperger LA, Correa LA, Ly Prieto Á, Pérez de Arce F, Abades S, Hayes LD. Multiple mating is linked to social setting and benefits the males in a communally rearing mammal. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Individuals in social species may mate with multiple opposite-sex individuals, including members of the same or different social groups. This variation may be linked to genetic benefits, where multiple mating decreases risk of inbreeding. Multiple mating may also be constrained by the sociospatial setting through its effect on availability of mates. Because multiple mating with individuals from same or different groups may determine sex-specific fitness effects, we also examined how multiple mating modulates social benefits of females and males. We used 7 years of data on demography, social organization, and genetics of a natural population of the group-living and colonial rodent, Octodon degus, to determine how kin and sex composition within social groups, and spatial relations between these groups (i.e., colonial habits) influence multiple mating and its fitness consequences. Males (81.3%) and females (64.9%) produced offspring with multiple opposite-sex individuals within groups and with individuals of neighboring groups. Thus, polygynandry was the dominant mating system in the degu population examined. Multiple mating in degus was high when compared with estimates reported in other social mammals. Variation in female and male multiple mating was better explained by social setting through its effect on availability of potential mates rather than by benefits derived from decreasing risk of inbreeding. Finally, our study revealed how multiple mating enhances male, but not female reproductive success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis A Ebensperger
- Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins, CP, Chile
| | - Loreto A Correa
- Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins, CP, Chile
- Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Camino La Pirámide, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile
| | - Álvaro Ly Prieto
- Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins, CP, Chile
| | - Felipe Pérez de Arce
- Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins, CP, Chile
| | - Sebastian Abades
- GEMA Center for Genomics, Ecology and Environment, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Camino La Pirámide, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile
| | - Loren D Hayes
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, USA
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32
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Byrne AW, O'Keeffe J, Buesching CD, Newman C. Push and pull factors driving movement in a social mammal: context dependent behavioral plasticity at the landscape scale. Curr Zool 2018; 65:517-525. [PMID: 31616482 PMCID: PMC6784507 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoy081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2018] [Accepted: 10/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding how key parameters (e.g., density, range-size, and configuration) can affect animal movement remains a major goal of population ecology. This is particularly important for wildlife disease hosts, such as the European badger Meles meles, a reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis. Here we show how movements of 463 individuals among 223 inferred group territories across 755 km2 in Ireland were affected by sex, age, past-movement history, group composition, and group size index from 2009 to 2012. Females exhibited a greater probability of moving into groups with a male-biased composition, but male movements into groups were not associated with group composition. Male badgers were, however, more likely to make visits into territories than females. Animals that had immigrated into a territory previously were more likely to emigrate in the future. Animals exhibiting such “itinerant” movement patterns were more likely to belong to younger age classes. Inter-territorial movement propensity was negatively associated with group size, indicating that larger groups were more stable and less attractive (or permeable) to immigrants. Across the landscape, there was substantial variation in inferred territory-size and movement dynamics, which was related to group size. This represents behavioral plasticity previously only reported at the scale of the species’ biogeographical range. Our results highlight how a “one-size-fits-all” explanation of badger movement is likely to fail under varying ecological contexts and scales, with implications for bovine tuberculosis management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Byrne
- Agri-food and Biosciences Institute, Veterinary Science Division, Stormont, Belfast, UK.,School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.,Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis (CVERA), School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
| | - James O'Keeffe
- Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis (CVERA), School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.,Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Agriculture House, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
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33
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Andrews KR, Adams JR, Cassirer EF, Plowright RK, Gardner C, Dwire M, Hohenlohe PA, Waits LP. A bioinformatic pipeline for identifying informative SNP panels for parentage assignment from RADseq data. Mol Ecol Resour 2018; 18:1263-1281. [PMID: 29870119 PMCID: PMC6207459 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2017] [Revised: 05/18/2018] [Accepted: 05/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The development of high-throughput sequencing technologies is dramatically increasing the use of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the field of genetics, but most parentage studies of wild populations still rely on microsatellites. We developed a bioinformatic pipeline for identifying SNP panels that are informative for parentage analysis from restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) data. This pipeline includes options for analysis with or without a reference genome, and provides methods to maximize genotyping accuracy and select sets of unlinked loci that have high statistical power. We test this pipeline on small populations of Mexican gray wolf and bighorn sheep, for which parentage analyses are expected to be challenging due to low genetic diversity and the presence of many closely related individuals. We compare the results of parentage analysis across SNP panels generated with or without the use of a reference genome, and between SNPs and microsatellites. For Mexican gray wolf, we conducted parentage analyses for 30 pups from a single cohort where samples were available from 64% of possible mothers and 53% of possible fathers, and the accuracy of parentage assignments could be estimated because true identities of parents were known a priori based on field data. For bighorn sheep, we conducted maternity analyses for 39 lambs from five cohorts where 77% of possible mothers were sampled, but true identities of parents were unknown. Analyses with and without a reference genome produced SNP panels with ≥95% parentage assignment accuracy for Mexican gray wolf, outperforming microsatellites at 78% accuracy. Maternity assignments were completely consistent across all SNP panels for the bighorn sheep, and were 74.4% consistent with assignments from microsatellites. Accuracy and consistency of parentage analysis were not reduced when using as few as 284 SNPs for Mexican gray wolf and 142 SNPs for bighorn sheep, indicating our pipeline can be used to develop SNP genotyping assays for parentage analysis with relatively small numbers of loci.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly R. Andrews
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1136, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
- Current address: Genetics and Genomics Group, University of Washington JISAO and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab, Seattle, WA 98115, USA
| | - Jennifer R. Adams
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1136, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
| | - E. Frances Cassirer
- Idaho Department of Fish and Game, 3316 16th Street, Lewiston, ID 83501, USA
| | - Raina K. Plowright
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, 109 Lewis Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Colby Gardner
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2105 Osuna Road NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113, USA
| | - Maggie Dwire
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2105 Osuna Road NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113, USA
| | - Paul A. Hohenlohe
- Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844, USA
| | - Lisette P. Waits
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1136, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
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34
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Benton CH, Delahay RJ, Smith FAP, Robertson A, McDonald RA, Young AJ, Burke TA, Hodgson D. Inbreeding intensifies sex- and age-dependent disease in a wild mammal. J Anim Ecol 2018; 87:1500-1511. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 05/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Clare H. Benton
- National Wildlife Management Centre; Animal and Plant Health Agency; Stonehouse UK
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation; University of Exeter; Penryn UK
| | - Richard J. Delahay
- National Wildlife Management Centre; Animal and Plant Health Agency; Stonehouse UK
| | - Freya A. P. Smith
- National Wildlife Management Centre; Animal and Plant Health Agency; Stonehouse UK
| | - Andrew Robertson
- National Wildlife Management Centre; Animal and Plant Health Agency; Stonehouse UK
- Environment and Sustainability Institute; University of Exeter; Penryn UK
| | - Robbie A. McDonald
- Environment and Sustainability Institute; University of Exeter; Penryn UK
| | - Andrew J. Young
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation; University of Exeter; Penryn UK
| | - Terry A. Burke
- Molecular Ecology Laboratory; University of Sheffield; Sheffield UK
| | - Dave Hodgson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation; University of Exeter; Penryn UK
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35
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Silk MJ, Weber NL, Steward LC, Hodgson DJ, Boots M, Croft DP, Delahay RJ, McDonald RA. Contact networks structured by sex underpin sex-specific epidemiology of infection. Ecol Lett 2018; 21:309-318. [PMID: 29266710 PMCID: PMC6849844 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2017] [Revised: 08/23/2017] [Accepted: 11/16/2017] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Contact networks are fundamental to the transmission of infection and host sex often affects the acquisition and progression of infection. However, the epidemiological impacts of sex-related variation in animal contact networks have rarely been investigated. We test the hypothesis that sex-biases in infection are related to variation in multilayer contact networks structured by sex in a population of European badgers Meles meles naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis. Our key results are that male-male and between-sex networks are structured at broader spatial scales than female-female networks and that in male-male and between-sex contact networks, but not female-female networks, there is a significant relationship between infection and contacts with individuals in other groups. These sex differences in social behaviour may underpin male-biased acquisition of infection and may result in males being responsible for more between-group transmission. This highlights the importance of sex-related variation in host behaviour when managing animal diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J. Silk
- Environment and Sustainability InstituteUniversity of ExeterPenrynTR10 9FEUK
| | - Nicola L. Weber
- Centre for Ecology and ConservationUniversity of ExeterPenrynTR10 9FEUK
| | - Lucy C. Steward
- Environment and Sustainability InstituteUniversity of ExeterPenrynTR10 9FEUK
| | - David J. Hodgson
- Centre for Ecology and ConservationUniversity of ExeterPenrynTR10 9FEUK
| | - Mike Boots
- Centre for Ecology and ConservationUniversity of ExeterPenrynTR10 9FEUK
- Department of Integrative BiologyUniversity of California, Berkeley3040 Valley Life Sciences BuildingBerkeleyCA94720USA
| | - Darren P. Croft
- Centre for Research in Animal BehaviourUniversity of ExeterExeterEX4 4QGUK
| | - Richard J. Delahay
- National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal and Plant Health AgencyWoodchester ParkNympsfield, StonehouseGL10 3UJUK
| | - Robbie A. McDonald
- Environment and Sustainability InstituteUniversity of ExeterPenrynTR10 9FEUK
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36
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Mayer M, Zedrosser A, Rosell F. Extra-territorial movements differ between territory holders and subordinates in a large, monogamous rodent. Sci Rep 2017; 7:15261. [PMID: 29127395 PMCID: PMC5681683 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15540-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Accepted: 10/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Territorial animals carry out extra-territorial movements (forays) to obtain pre-dispersal information or to increase reproductive success via extra-pair copulation. However, little is known about other purposes and spatial movement patterns of forays. In this study, we GPS-tagged 54 Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber), a year-round territorial, monogamous mammal, during the non-mating season. We investigated forays in territory-holding breeders (dominants) and non-breeding (subordinate) family members. Twenty of 46 dominant individuals (44%), and 6 of 10 subordinates (60%) conducted forays. Generally, beavers spent between 0 and 11% of their active time on forays, travelled faster and spend more time in water when on forays compared to intra-territorial movements, suggesting that forays are energetically costly. Further, beavers in smaller territories conducted more forays. Possibly, smaller territories might not have sufficient resources and thus dominant individuals might conduct forays to assess possibilities for territory expansion, and potentially for foraging. Generally, besides territory advertisement (e.g. via scent-marking), forays might serve as an additional mechanism for territory owners to assess neighbours. Subordinates spent more time on forays, moved greater distances and intruded into more territories than dominant individuals did, suggesting that they prospected to gain information on the population density and available mates before dispersal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Mayer
- Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, University College of Southeast Norway, Bø i Telemark, Norway.
| | - Andreas Zedrosser
- Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, University College of Southeast Norway, Bø i Telemark, Norway.,Department of Integrative Biology, Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Frank Rosell
- Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, University College of Southeast Norway, Bø i Telemark, Norway
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37
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Smith JE, Lehmann KDS, Montgomery TM, Strauss ED, Holekamp KE. Insights from long‐term field studies of mammalian carnivores. J Mammal 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyw194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
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38
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Buesching CD, Newman C, Service K, Macdonald DW, Riordan P. Latrine marking patterns of badgers (
Meles meles
) with respect to population density and range size. Ecosphere 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Christina D. Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Department of Zoology The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre University of Oxford Tubney House Tubney OX13 5QL UK
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Department of Zoology The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre University of Oxford Tubney House Tubney OX13 5QL UK
| | - Katrina Service
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Department of Zoology The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre University of Oxford Tubney House Tubney OX13 5QL UK
| | - David W. Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Department of Zoology The Recanati‐Kaplan Centre University of Oxford Tubney House Tubney OX13 5QL UK
| | - Philip Riordan
- Department of Zoology University of Oxford South Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PS UK
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39
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Noonan MJ, Rahman MA, Newman C, Buesching CD, Macdonald DW. Avoiding verisimilitude when modelling ecological responses to climate change: the influence of weather conditions on trapping efficiency in European badgers (Meles meles). GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2015; 21:3575-3585. [PMID: 25857625 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2015] [Accepted: 03/31/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
The signal for climate change effects can be abstruse; consequently, interpretations of evidence must avoid verisimilitude, or else misattribution of causality could compromise policy decisions. Examining climatic effects on wild animal population dynamics requires ability to trap, observe or photograph and to recapture study individuals consistently. In this regard, we use 19 years of data (1994-2012), detailing the life histories on 1179 individual European badgers over 3288 (re-) trapping events, to test whether trapping efficiency was associated with season, weather variables (both contemporaneous and time lagged), body-condition index (BCI) and trapping efficiency (TE). PCA factor loadings demonstrated that TE was affected significantly by temperature and precipitation, as well as time lags in these variables. From multi-model inference, BCI was the principal driver of TE, where badgers in good condition were less likely to be trapped. Our analyses exposed that this was enacted mechanistically via weather variables driving BCI, affecting TE. Notably, the very conditions that militated for poor trapping success have been associated with actual survival and population abundance benefits in badgers. Using these findings to parameterize simulations, projecting best-/worst-case scenario weather conditions and BCI resulted in 8.6% ± 4.9 SD difference in seasonal TE, leading to a potential 55.0% population abundance under-estimation under the worst-case scenario; 38.6% over-estimation under the best case. Interestingly, simulations revealed that while any single trapping session might prove misrepresentative of the true population abundance, due to weather effects, prolonging capture-mark-recapture studies under sub-optimal conditions decreased the accuracy of population estimates significantly. We also use these projection scenarios to explore how weather could impact government-led trapping of badgers in the UK, in relation to TB management. We conclude that population monitoring must be calibrated against the likelihood that weather conditions could be altering trap success directly, and therefore biasing model design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Noonan
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, UK
| | - M Abidur Rahman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, UK
- WildTeam, Cosmos Center, 69/1, New Circular Road, Malibagh, Dhaka, 1217, Bangladesh
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, UK
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, UK
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, UK
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40
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Impact of human land use patterns and climatic variables on badger (Meles meles) foraging behaviour in Ireland. MAMMAL RES 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s13364-015-0242-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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41
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Beirne C, Delahay R, Young A. Sex differences in senescence: the role of intra-sexual competition in early adulthood. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:rspb.2015.1086. [PMID: 26156771 PMCID: PMC4528560 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2015] [Accepted: 06/09/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Males and females frequently differ in their rates of ageing, but the origins of these differences are poorly understood. Sex differences in senescence have been hypothesized to arise, because investment in intra-sexual reproductive competition entails costs to somatic maintenance, leaving the sex that experiences stronger reproductive competition showing higher rates of senescence. However, evidence that sex differences in senescence are attributable to downstream effects of the intensity of intra-sexual reproductive competition experienced during the lifetime remains elusive. Here, we show using a 35 year study of wild European badgers (Meles meles), that (i) males show higher body mass senescence rates than females and (ii) this sex difference is largely attributable to sex-specific downstream effects of the intensity of intra-sexual competition experienced during early adulthood. Our findings provide rare support for the view that somatic maintenance costs arising from intra-sexual competition can cause both individual variation and sex differences in senescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Beirne
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK
| | - Richard Delahay
- National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA), Woodchester Park, Gloucestershire GL10 3UJ, UK
| | - Andrew Young
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK
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42
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Tinnesand HV, Buesching CD, Noonan MJ, Newman C, Zedrosser A, Rosell F, Macdonald DW. Will Trespassers Be Prosecuted or Assessed According to Their Merits? A Consilient Interpretation of Territoriality in a Group-Living Carnivore, the European Badger (Meles meles). PLoS One 2015; 10:e0132432. [PMID: 26147753 PMCID: PMC4493095 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2015] [Accepted: 06/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Socio-spatial interactions of Carnivores have traditionally been described using the vocabulary of territoriality and aggression, with scent marks interpreted as 'scent fences'. Here, we investigate the role of olfactory signals in assumed territorial marking of group-living solitary foragers using European badgers Meles meles as a model. We presented anal gland secretions (n = 351) from known individuals to identifiable recipients (n = 187), to assess response-variation according to familiarity (own-group, neighbours, strangers) and spatial context (in-context: at a shared border; out-of-context: at an unshared border/ the main sett). Sniffing and over-marking (with subcaudal gland secretion) responses were strongest to anal gland secretions from strangers, intermediate to neighbouring-group and weakest to own-group members. Secretions from both, strangers and neighbours, were sniffed for longer than were own-group samples, although neighbour-secretion presented out-of-context evoked no greater interest than in-context. On an individual level, responses were further moderated by the relevance of individual-specific donor information encoded in the secretion, as it related to the physiological state of the responder. There was a trend bordering on significance for males to sniff for longer than did females, but without sex-related differences in the frequency of subcaudal over-marking responses, and males over-marked oestrous female secretions more than non-oestrous females. There were no age-class related differences in sniff-duration or in over-marking. Evaluating these results in the context of the Familiarity hypothesis, the Threat-level hypothesis, and the Individual advertisement hypothesis evidences that interpretations of territorial scent-marks depicting rigid and potentially agonistic discrimination between own- and foreign-group conspecifics are overly simplistic. We use our findings to advance conceptual understanding of badger socio-spatial ecology, and the general context of territoriality and group-range dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helga V. Tinnesand
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Environmental and Health Studies, Telemark University College, N-3800 Bø i Telemark, Norway
| | - Christina D. Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Rd, Tubney, Abingdon, OX13 5QL, United Kingdom
| | - Michael J. Noonan
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Rd, Tubney, Abingdon, OX13 5QL, United Kingdom
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Rd, Tubney, Abingdon, OX13 5QL, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas Zedrosser
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Environmental and Health Studies, Telemark University College, N-3800 Bø i Telemark, Norway
- Department of Integrative Biology, Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Gregor Mendel Str. 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria
| | - Frank Rosell
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Environmental and Health Studies, Telemark University College, N-3800 Bø i Telemark, Norway
| | - David W. Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Rd, Tubney, Abingdon, OX13 5QL, United Kingdom
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Sin YW, Annavi G, Newman C, Buesching C, Burke T, Macdonald DW, Dugdale HL. MHC class II-assortative mate choice in European badgers (Meles meles). Mol Ecol 2015; 24:3138-50. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.13217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2014] [Revised: 04/22/2015] [Accepted: 04/23/2015] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Yung Wa Sin
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU); Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House Abingdon Road Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Western Bank; Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN UK
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Museum of Comparative Zoology; Harvard University; 26 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - Geetha Annavi
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU); Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House Abingdon Road Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Western Bank; Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN UK
- Biology Department; Faculty of Science; Universiti Putra Malaysia; 43400 UPM Serdang Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU); Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House Abingdon Road Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
| | - Christina Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU); Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House Abingdon Road Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
| | - Terry Burke
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Western Bank; Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN UK
| | - David W. Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU); Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House Abingdon Road Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
| | - Hannah L. Dugdale
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Western Bank; Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN UK
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences; University of Groningen; PO Box 11103 9700CC Groningen the Netherlands
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Robertson A, Palphramand KL, Carter SP, Delahay RJ. Group size correlates with territory size in European badgers: implications for the resource dispersion hypothesis? OIKOS 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.01459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Robertson
- National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Woodchester Park; Gloucestershire GL10 3UJ UK
- Environment and Sustainability Institute, Univ. of Exeter; Penryn TR10 9EZ Cornwall UK
| | - Kate L. Palphramand
- National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Woodchester Park; Gloucestershire GL10 3UJ UK
| | - Stephen P. Carter
- National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Woodchester Park; Gloucestershire GL10 3UJ UK
| | - Richard J. Delahay
- National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Woodchester Park; Gloucestershire GL10 3UJ UK
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Sin YW, Annavi G, Dugdale HL, Newman C, Burke T, MacDonald DW. Pathogen burden, co-infection and major histocompatibility complex variability in the European badger (Meles meles). Mol Ecol 2014; 23:5072-88. [PMID: 25211523 DOI: 10.1111/mec.12917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2013] [Revised: 09/07/2014] [Accepted: 09/08/2014] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yung Wa Sin
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit; Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House, Abingdon Road Tubney Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Sheffield S10 2TN UK
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Museum of Comparative Zoology; Harvard University; 26 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - Geetha Annavi
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit; Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House, Abingdon Road Tubney Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Sheffield S10 2TN UK
- Faculty of Science; Department of Biology; University of Putra Malaysia; UPM 43400 Serdang Selangor Malaysia
| | - Hannah L. Dugdale
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Sheffield S10 2TN UK
- Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization; University of Groningen; PO Box 11103 9700 CC Groningen the Netherlands
- Theoretical Biology; University of Groningen; PO Box 11103 9700 CC Groningen the Netherlands
| | - Chris Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit; Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House, Abingdon Road Tubney Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
| | - Terry Burke
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Sheffield S10 2TN UK
| | - David W. MacDonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit; Department of Zoology; Recanati-Kaplan Centre; University of Oxford; Tubney House, Abingdon Road Tubney Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5QL UK
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Annavi G, Newman C, Dugdale HL, Buesching CD, Sin YW, Burke T, Macdonald DW. Neighbouring-group composition and within-group relatedness drive extra-group paternity rate in the European badger (Meles meles). J Evol Biol 2014; 27:2191-203. [PMID: 25234113 PMCID: PMC4283041 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2014] [Revised: 07/22/2014] [Accepted: 07/27/2014] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Extra-group paternity (EGP) occurs commonly among group-living mammals and plays an important role in mating systems and the dynamics of sexual selection; however, socio-ecological and genetic correlates of EGP have been underexplored. We use 23 years of demographic and genetic data from a high-density European badger (Meles meles) population, to investigate the relationship between the rate of EGP in litters and mate availability, mate incompatibility and mate quality (heterozygosity). Relatedness between within-group assigned mothers and candidate fathers had a negative quadratic effect on EGP, whereas the number of neighbouring-group candidate fathers had a linear positive effect. We detected no effect of mean or maximum heterozygosity of within-group candidate fathers on EGP. Consequently, EGP was associated primarily with mate availability, subject to within-group genetic effects, potentially to mitigate mate incompatibility and inbreeding. In badgers, cryptic female choice, facilitated by superfecundation, superfoetation and delayed implantation, prevents males from monopolizing within-group females. This resonates with a meta-analysis in group-living mammals, which proposed that higher rates of EGP occur when within-group males cannot monopolize within-group females. In contrast to the positive meta-analytic association, however, we found that EGP associated negatively with the number of within-group assigned mothers and the number of within-group candidate fathers; potentially a strategy to counter within-group males committing infanticide. The relationship between the rate of EGP and socio-ecological or genetic factors can therefore be intricate, and the potential for cryptic female choice must be accounted for in comparative studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Annavi
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of OxfordTubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of SheffieldSheffield, UK
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, University of Putra MalaysiaSelangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
| | - C Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of OxfordTubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
| | - H L Dugdale
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of SheffieldSheffield, UK
- Theoretical Biology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of GroningenGroningen, The Netherlands
- Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of GroningenGroningen, The Netherlands
| | - C D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of OxfordTubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
| | - Y W Sin
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of OxfordTubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of SheffieldSheffield, UK
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard UniversityCambridge, MA, USA
| | - T Burke
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of SheffieldSheffield, UK
| | - D W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of OxfordTubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
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The evolution of the placenta drives a shift in sexual selection in livebearing fish. Nature 2014; 513:233-6. [PMID: 25043015 DOI: 10.1038/nature13451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2013] [Accepted: 05/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of the placenta from a non-placental ancestor causes a shift of maternal investment from pre- to post-fertilization, creating a venue for parent-offspring conflicts during pregnancy. Theory predicts that the rise of these conflicts should drive a shift from a reliance on pre-copulatory female mate choice to polyandry in conjunction with post-zygotic mechanisms of sexual selection. This hypothesis has not yet been empirically tested. Here we apply comparative methods to test a key prediction of this hypothesis, which is that the evolution of placentation is associated with reduced pre-copulatory female mate choice. We exploit a unique quality of the livebearing fish family Poeciliidae: placentas have repeatedly evolved or been lost, creating diversity among closely related lineages in the presence or absence of placentation. We show that post-zygotic maternal provisioning by means of a placenta is associated with the absence of bright coloration, courtship behaviour and exaggerated ornamental display traits in males. Furthermore, we found that males of placental species have smaller bodies and longer genitalia, which facilitate sneak or coercive mating and, hence, circumvents female choice. Moreover, we demonstrate that post-zygotic maternal provisioning correlates with superfetation, a female reproductive adaptation that may result in polyandry through the formation of temporally overlapping, mixed-paternity litters. Our results suggest that the emergence of prenatal conflict during the evolution of the placenta correlates with a suite of phenotypic and behavioural male traits that is associated with a reduced reliance on pre-copulatory female mate choice.
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Annavi G, Newman C, Buesching CD, Macdonald DW, Burke T, Dugdale HL. Heterozygosity-fitness correlations in a wild mammal population: accounting for parental and environmental effects. Ecol Evol 2014; 4:2594-609. [PMID: 25360289 PMCID: PMC4203301 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2014] [Accepted: 04/24/2014] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
HFCs (heterozygosity–fitness correlations) measure the direct relationship between an individual's genetic diversity and fitness. The effects of parental heterozygosity and the environment on HFCs are currently under-researched. We investigated these in a high-density U.K. population of European badgers (Meles meles), using a multimodel capture–mark–recapture framework and 35 microsatellite loci. We detected interannual variation in first-year, but not adult, survival probability. Adult females had higher annual survival probabilities than adult males. Cubs with more heterozygous fathers had higher first-year survival, but only in wetter summers; there was no relationship with individual or maternal heterozygosity. Moist soil conditions enhance badger food supply (earthworms), improving survival. In dryer years, higher indiscriminate mortality rates appear to mask differential heterozygosity-related survival effects. This paternal interaction was significant in the most supported model; however, the model-averaged estimate had a relative importance of 0.50 and overlapped zero slightly. First-year survival probabilities were not correlated with the inbreeding coefficient (f); however, small sample sizes limited the power to detect inbreeding depression. Correlations between individual heterozygosity and inbreeding were weak, in line with published meta-analyses showing that HFCs tend to be weak. We found support for general rather than local heterozygosity effects on first-year survival probability, and g2 indicated that our markers had power to detect inbreeding. We emphasize the importance of assessing how environmental stressors can influence the magnitude and direction of HFCs and of considering how parental genetic diversity can affect fitness-related traits, which could play an important role in the evolution of mate choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geetha Annavi
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, U.K ; NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield Sheffield, S10 2TN, U.K ; Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, University of Putra Malaysia UPM 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Christopher Newman
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, U.K
| | - Christina D Buesching
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, U.K
| | - David W Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, U.K
| | - Terry Burke
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield Sheffield, S10 2TN, U.K
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield Sheffield, S10 2TN, U.K ; Theoretical Biology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands ; Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Kaneko Y, Kanda E, Tashima S, Masuda R, Newman C, Macdonald DW. The socio-spatial dynamics of the Japanese badger (Meles anakuma). J Mammal 2014. [DOI: 10.1644/12-mamm-a-158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
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50
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Byrne AW, Quinn JL, O'Keeffe JJ, Green S, Sleeman DP, Martin SW, Davenport J. Large-scale movements in European badgers: has the tail of the movement kernel been underestimated? J Anim Ecol 2014; 83:991-1001. [PMID: 24410133 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2013] [Accepted: 12/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Characterizing patterns of animal movement is a major aim in population ecology, and yet doing so at an appropriate spatial scale remains a major challenge. Estimating the frequency and distances of movements is of particular importance when species are implicated in the transmission of zoonotic diseases. European badgers (Meles meles) are classically viewed as exhibiting limited dispersal, and yet their movements bring them into conflict with farmers due to their potential to spread bovine tuberculosis in parts of their range. Considerable uncertainty surrounds the movement potential of badgers, and this may be related to the spatial scale of previous empirical studies. We conducted a large-scale mark-recapture study (755 km(2); 2008-2012; 1935 capture events; 963 badgers) to investigate movement patterns in badgers, and undertook a comparative meta-analysis using published data from 15 European populations. The dispersal movement (>1 km) kernel followed an inverse power-law function, with a substantial 'tail' indicating the occurrence of rare long-distance dispersal attempts during the study period. The mean recorded distance from this distribution was 2.6 km, the 95 percentile was 7.3 km and the longest recorded was 22.1 km. Dispersal frequency distributions were significantly different between genders; males dispersed more frequently than females, but females made proportionally more long-distance dispersal attempts than males. We used a subsampling approach to demonstrate that the appropriate minimum spatial scale to characterize badger movements in our study population was 80 km(2), substantially larger than many previous badger studies. Furthermore, the meta-analysis indicated a significant association between maximum movement distance and study area size, while controlling for population density. Maximum long-distance movements were often only recorded by chance beyond the boundaries of study areas. These findings suggest that the tail of the badger movement distribution is currently underestimated. The implications of this for understanding the spatial ecology of badger populations and for the design of disease intervention strategies are potentially significant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Byrne
- Teagasc, Athenry Co., Galway, Ireland.,School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.,School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - John L Quinn
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - James J O'Keeffe
- School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.,Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Agriculture House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Stuart Green
- Teagasc (Spatial Analysis), Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland
| | - D Paddy Sleeman
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - S Wayne Martin
- Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G2W1
| | - John Davenport
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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