Postnatal growth rate varies with latitude in range-expanding geese: The role of plasticity and day length.

ABSTRACT: The postnatal growth period is a crucial life stage, with potential lifelong effects on an animal's fitness. How fast animals grow depends on their life-history strategy and rearing environment, and interspecific comparisons generally show higher growth rates at higher latitudes. However, to elucidate the mechanisms behind this gradient in growth rate, intraspecific comparisons are needed. Recently, barnacle geese expanded their Arctic breeding range from the Russian Barents Sea coast southwards, and now also breed along the Baltic and North Sea coasts. Baltic breeders shortened their migration, while barnacle geese breeding along the North Sea stopped migrating entirely. We collected cross-sectional data on gosling tarsus length, head length and body mass, and constructed population-speci

SUBMITTER: Boom MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9300058 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature