Testing 'Proportion of Females Calving' as an indicator for population-level reproductive performance for black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis).

ABSTRACT: The proportion of females calving (PFC) each year has been employed as an indicator of population reproductive performance in ungulates, especially for species that breed annually, because it requires less detailed population data than inter-birthing intervals and age at first reproduction. For asynchronous breeders with inter-birthing intervals longer than a year such as megaherbivores, however, it is unclear how much annual variation in PFC is expected and whether false signals of density feedback or environmental influence might result from analyzing PFC data. We used census data from a well studied, closed, expanding population of black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) to study annual variation in PFC over 22 years. Our analysis of PFC data yielded no false signals of density feedback but

SUBMITTER: Law PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6098676 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature