Sex-specific performance, trade-offs and trait repeatability across the lifetime of the world's largest semelparous mammal (Dasyurus hallucatus).

ABSTRACT: The activities that define survival and reproductive success in animals depend on their physical performance. However, performance is a complex trait, and organisms must balance competing demands of multiple underlying factors every time they undertake an activity. For example, the morphology that increases bite force (i.e. increased head size) - improving fighting ability - should constrain sprinting performance by adding mass to the body. Consequently, trade-offs between fighting and escape performance might be sex specific where sexual dimorphism is present, or pronounced in animals with extreme breeding strategies. Northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) are a sexually dimorphic marsupial, with sex-specific life history strategies; males die after a single synchronous breeding season, wh

SUBMITTER: Sparkes GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12045626 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature