Increased reproductive investment associated with greater survival and longevity in Cassin's auklets.

ABSTRACT: Individuals increase lifetime reproductive output through a trade-off between investment in future survival and immediate reproductive success. This pattern may be obscured in certain higher quality individuals that possess greater reproductive potential. The Cassin's auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) is a long-lived species where some individuals exhibit greater reproductive ability through a behaviour called double brooding. Here, we analyse 32 years of breeding histories from marked known-age auklets to test whether double brooding increases lifetime fitness despite the increased mortality and reduced lifespan higher reproductive effort would be expected to incur. Multistate mark-recapture modelling revealed that double brooding was strongly positively associated with higher annua

SUBMITTER: Johns ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6125915 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature