Multiple aspects of the maternal reproductive investment in a polytocous species: What do mothers really control?

ABSTRACT: One of the factors facilitating the expansion and proliferation of wild boar Sus scrofa is the plasticity of its reproductive biology. Nevertheless, the real influence of maternal and environmental factors on number and sex of the offspring is still controversial. While the litter size was shown to be related with the maternal condition, the strength of this relation remains to be understood, together with the possible role played by environmental conditions. Analogously, it is unclear whether wild boar females can adjust their offspring sex. We investigated multiple aspects of wild boar maternal investment by means of a 10-year dataset of female reproductive traits and a set of biologically meaningful environmental variables. The maternal condition slightly affected the litter size

SUBMITTER: Brogi R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10120990 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature