Spontaneous abortion as a response to reproductive conflict in the banded mongoose.

ABSTRACT: When breeding females compete for limited resources, the intensity of this reproductive conflict can determine whether the fitness benefits of current reproductive effort exceed the potential costs to survival and future fertility. In group-living species, reproductive competition can occur through post-natal competition among the offspring of co-breeding females. Spontaneous abortion could be a response to such competition, allowing females to curtail reproductive expenditure on offspring that are unlikely to survive and to conserve resources for future breeding opportunities. We tested this hypothesis using long-term data on banded mongooses, Mungos mungo, in which multiple females within a group give birth synchronously to a communal litter that is cared for by other group member

SUBMITTER: Inzani E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6936015 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature