Anthropogenic natal environmental effects on life histories in a wild bird population.

ABSTRACT: Recent work suggests that the environment experienced in early life can alter life histories in wild populations, but our understanding of the processes involved remains limited. Since anthropogenic environmental change is currently having a major impact on wild populations, this raises the possibility that life histories may be influenced by human activities that alter environmental conditions in early life. Whether this is the case and the processes involved remain unexplored in wild populations. Using 23 years of longitudinal data on the Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus), a tropical forest specialist, we found that females born in territories affected by anthropogenic habitat change shifted investment in reproduction to earlier in life at the expense of late life performance. They als

SUBMITTER: Cartwright SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3969248 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature