Bigger is not always better: Viability selection on body mass varies across life stages in a hibernating mammal.

ABSTRACT: Body mass is often viewed as a proxy of past access to resources and of future survival and reproductive success. Links between body mass and survival or reproduction are, however, likely to differ between age classes and sexes. Remarkably, this is rarely taken into account in selection analyses. Selection on body mass is likely to be the primary target accounting for juvenile survival until reproduction but may weaken after recruitment. Males and females also often differ in how they use resources for reproduction and survival. Using a long-term study on body mass and annual survival in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer), we show that body mass was under stabilizing viability selection in the first years of life, before recruitment, which changed to positive directional s

SUBMITTER: Jebb AHM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8019046 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature