IngentaConnect Sex differences in survival costs of reproduction in a promiscuou...

Authors: Hoffman, Christy¹; Ruiz-Lambides, Angelina²; Davila, Edgar³; Maldonado, Elizabeth²; Gerald, Melissa³; Maestripieri, Dario⁴

Source: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Volume 62, Number 11, September 2008 , pp. 1711-1718(8)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

In sexually promiscuous mammals, female reproductive effort is mainly expressed through gestation, lactation, and maternal care, whereas male reproductive effort is mainly manifested as mating effort. In this study, we investigated whether reproduction has significant survival costs for a seasonally breeding, sexually promiscuous species, the rhesus macaque, and whether these costs occur at different times of the year for females and males, namely in the birth and the mating season, respectively. The study was conducted with the rhesus macaque population on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. Data on 7,402 births and 922 deaths over a 45-year period were analyzed. Births were concentrated between November and April, while conceptions occurred between May and October. As predicted, female mortality probability peaked in the birth season whereas male mortality probability peaked in the mating season. Furthermore, as the onset of the birth season gradually shifted over the years in relation to climatic changes, there was a concomitant shift in the seasonal peaks of male and female mortality. Taken together, our findings provide the first evidence of sex differences in the survival costs of reproduction in nonhuman primates and suggest that reproduction has significant fitness costs even in environments with abundant food and absence of predation.

Keywords: Survival costs of reproduction; Sex differences; Seasonal reproduction; Climate change; Rhesus macaques

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1007/s00265-008-0599-z

Affiliations: 1: Department of Comparative Human Development, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA 2: Caribbean Primate Research Center—Sabana Seca, University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus, Sabana Seca, PR, 00952, USA 3: Caribbean Primate Research Center—Cayo Santiago, University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus, Punta Santiago, PR, 00741, USA 4: Department of Comparative Human Development, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA, Email: dario@uchicago.edu

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Sex differences in survival costs of reproduction in a promiscuous primate