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Individual Heterogeneity in Growth and Age at Sexual Maturity: A Gamma Process Analysis of Capture–Mark–Recapture Data

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Abstract

Knowledge of organisms’ growth rates and ages at sexual maturity is important for conservation efforts and a wide variety of studies in ecology and evolutionary biology. However, these life history parameters may be difficult to obtain from natural populations: individuals encountered may be of unknown age, information on age at sexual maturity may be uncertain and interval-censored, and growth data may include both individual heterogeneity and measurement errors. We analyzed mark–recapture data for Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) to compare sex-specific growth rates and ages at sexual maturity. Aging of individuals was made possible by the use of a von Bertalanffy model of growth, complemented with models for interval-censored and imperfect observations at sexual maturation. Individual heterogeneity in growth was modeled through the use of Gamma processes. Our analysis indicates that female P. cinereus mature earlier and grow more quickly than males, growing to nearly identical asymptotic size distributions as males.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the original draft of this manuscript. For assistance with fieldwork, we thank N. Angeli, D. Miller, C. Miller Hesed, B. Schumaker, S. Wein, and A. Wiewel. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-0750616; additional funding was provided by the Graduate School, University of Maryland (Flagship Fellowship); Department of Biology, University of Maryland (Summer Research Fellowship); and American Philosophical Society (Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research). Research protocols were approved by the University of Maryland IACUC (R-09-40) and Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (NSR-CT-0910). Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, 20708, USA

    William A. Link

  2. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Kyle Miller Hesed

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  1. William A. Link
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  2. Kyle Miller Hesed
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Correspondence to William A. Link.

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Link, W.A., Hesed, K.M. Individual Heterogeneity in Growth and Age at Sexual Maturity: A Gamma Process Analysis of Capture–Mark–Recapture Data. JABES 20, 343–352 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13253-015-0211-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13253-015-0211-8

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