Weak coupling between energetic status and the timing of reproduction in an Arctic ungulate.

ABSTRACT: Bioenergetic constraints are the ultimate determinant of the timing of reproduction, and seasonal breeding is consequently a widely observed trait. Consistent with this, attention has focused on plasticity in reproductive phenology conceptualized as a response to concomitant advances in the phenology of the environmental energy supply caused by climate change. Few studies, however, have directly compared timing of reproduction with energetic status in free-living wild animals. Here we demonstrate that neither body mass nor adiposity are strong proximate predictors of date of conception in wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Weak coupling between energetic status and the phenology of reproduction accounts for the increasing discrepancy between the phenology of forage (energy supply) and the

SUBMITTER: Tyler NJC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11322327 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature