Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Life history consequences of variation in age at primiparity in northern elephant seals

  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The age when female northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, bear their first young varies from 2 to 6 years. At Año Nuevo, California, a group of 77 females, primiparous at age 3, had a lower survivorship rate to each successive year up to age 8 than a group of 98 females that deferred initial pupping until age 4. The difference in survivorship appears to be due to the greater relative energetic costs of gestation and lactation incurred by the earlier breeding females during a period in their development when growth is rapid. An alternate hypothesis for the difference in survivorship — that young primiparous females are in poor condition from birth-is untenable; females that pupped early in life were larger at weaning age (a correlate of condition) than females that were primiparous 1 year later.

Models based on the data show that differential survival of seals that vary in age at primiparity has important consequences for population growth and life history strategies. The effect of age at primiparity on the rate of increase of populations varies with colony density and juvenile survivorship. The optimal life history strategy for female elephant seals under most conditions existing today, including those at Ano Nuevo during the study period, is to bear the first offspring at age 4. Primiparity at age 3 is projected to be favored when harem density is very low and weaning success and juvenile survivorship are high; postponement of first breeding to age 5 is expected at high harem densities with intense competition for breeding space.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bakker K (1959) Feeding period, growth and pupation in larvae of Drosphila melanogaster. Entomol Exp Appl 2:171–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartholomew GA (1952) Reproductive and social behavior of the northern elephant seal. Univ Calif Publ Zool 47:369–472

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartholomew GA, Hubbs CL (1960) Population growth and seasonal movements of the northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris. Mammalia 24:313–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell G (1980) The costs of reproduction and their consequences. Am Nat 110:57–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell G (1984) Measuring the cost of reproduction. II. The correlation structure of the life tables of five freshwater invertebrates. Evolution 38:314–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonnell ML, Selander RK (1974) Elephant seals: genetic variation and near extinction. Science 184:908–909

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonnell ML, Le Boeuf BJ, Pierson MO, Dettman DH, Farrens GD (1978) Pinnipeds of the southern California bight. In: Marine mammal and seabird surveys of the southern California bight area, 1975–1978, vol III. Investigators report. Bureau of Land Management contact AA 550-CT7–36, National Technical Information Service, US Department of Commerce, Springfield IL, pp 1–535

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd IL (1984) The relationship between body condition and the timing in implantation in pregnant Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus). J Zool (Lond) 203:113–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Browne RA (1982) The costs of reproduction in brine shrimp. Ecology 63:43–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Calow P (1979) The cost of reproduction — a physiological approach. Biol Rev 54:23–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrick R, Csordas SE, Ingham SE (1962) Studies of the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina (L.). IV. Breeding and development. CSIRO Wildl Res 7:161–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Caughley G (1970) Eruptions of ungulate populations, with emphasis on the European that in New Zealand. Ecology 51:53–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Caughley G (1977) Analysis of vertebrate populations. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Charlesworth B (1980) Evolution in age-structured populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Charlesworth B, Leon JA (1976) The relation of reproductive effort to age. Am Nat 110:449–459

    Google Scholar 

  • Charnov EL, Krebs JR (1973) On clutch size and fitness. Ibis 116:217–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Charnov EL, Schaffer WM (1973) Life-history consequences of natural selection: Cole's result revisited. Am Nat 107:791–793

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH (1984) Reproductive effort and terminal investment in iteroparous animals. Am Nat 123:212–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH, Guinness FE, Albon SD (1982) Red deer: behavior and ecology of two sexes. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH, Guinness FE, Albon SD (1983) The costs of reproduction to red deer hinds. J Anim Ecol 52:367–383

    Google Scholar 

  • Cody ML (1966) A general theory of clutch size. Evolution 20:174–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole LC (1954) The population consequences of life history phenomena. Q Rev Biol 29:103–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper CF, Stewart BS (1983) Demography of northern elephant seals, 1911–1982. Science 219:969–971

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa DP, Le Boeuf BJ, Huntley AC, Ortiz CL (1986) The energetics of lactation in the Northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris. J Zool (Lond) 209:21–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairbairn DJ (1977) Why breed early? A study of reproduction tactics in Peromyscus. Can J Zool 55:862–871

    Google Scholar 

  • Feifarek BP, Wyngaard GA, Allan JD (1982) The cost of reproduction in a freshwater copepod. Oecologia (Berl) 56:166–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher RA (1958) The genetical theory of natural selection, 2nd edn. Dover, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadgil M, Bossert WG (1970) Life history consequences of natural selection. Am Nat 102:52–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Galef BG Jr (1983) Costs and benefits of mammalian reproduction. In: Rosenblum LA, Moltz H (eds) Symbiosis in parent-offspring interactions. Plenum Press, New York, pp 249–278

    Google Scholar 

  • Gambell R (1973) Some effects of exploitation in reproduction of whales. J Reprod Fertil Suppl 19:533–553

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross JE (1969) Optimal yield in deer and elk populations. Trans N Am Wildl Conf 34:372–386

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton WD (1966) The moulding of senescence by natural selection. J Theor Biol 12:12–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Haukioja E, Hakala T (1979) On the relationship between avian clutch size and life span. Ornis Fennica 56:45–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirshfield MF (1980) An experimental analysis of reproductive effort and cost in the Japanese medaka, Oryzias latipes. Ecology 61:282–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Huber HH (1987) Natality and weaning success in relation to age of first reproduction in northern elephant seals. Can J Zool 65:1311–1316

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy GC (1969) Interactions between feeding behavior and hormones during growth. Ann NY Acad Sci 157:1049

    Google Scholar 

  • Lack D (1954) The natural regulation of animal numbers. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Laws RM (1956) Growth and sexual maturity in aquatic mammals. Nature 178:193–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Laws RM (1962) Some effects of whaling on the southern stocks of baleen whales. In: Cren ED, Holdgate MW (eds) The exploitation of natural populations. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 137–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Laws RM, Parker ISC, Johnstone RCB (1975) Elephants and their habitats: the ecology of elephants in Northern Bunyoro, Uganda, Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ (1974) Male-male competition and reproductive success in elephant seals. Am Zool 14:163–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Bonnell MJ (1980) Pinnipeds of the California Channel Islands: abundance and distribution. In: Power D (ed) The California islands. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, pp 475–493

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Briggs KT (1977) The cost of living in a seal harem. Mammalia 41:167–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Peterson RS (1969) Social status and mating activity in elephant seals. Science 163:91–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Reiter J (1988) Lifetime reproductive success in northern elephant seals. In: Clutton-Brock T (ed) Reproductive success. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 344–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Whiting RJ, Gantt RF (1972) Perinatal behavior of northern elephant seal females and their young. Behaviour 34:121–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Ainley DG, Lewis TJ (1974) Elephant seals on the Farallones: population dynamics of an incipient colony. J Mammal 55:370–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Costa DP, Huntley AC, Feldkamp SD (1988) Continuous, deep diving in female northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris. Can J Zool 66:446–458

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Condit R, Reiter J (1989) Parental investment and the secondary sex ratio in northern elephant seals. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 25:109–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Leon JA (1976) Life histories as adaptive strategies. J Theor Biol 60:301–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie PH, Perry JS, Watson JS (1946) The determination of the median body weight at which female rats reach maturity. Proc Zool Soc London 115:473–488

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin RC (1965) Selection for colonizing ability. In: Baker HGM, Stebbins GL (eds) The genetics of colonizing species. Academic Press, New York, pp 77–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockyer C (1986) Body fat condition in northeast Atlantic fin whales, Balaenoptera physalus, and its relationship with reproduction and food resource. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 43:142–147

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • McCullough DR (1979) The George Reserve deer herd: population ecology of a K-selected species. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • Mertz DB (1970) Notes on methods used in life-history studies. In: Connell JH, Mertz DB, Murdoch WW (eds) Readings in ecology and ecological genetics. Harper and Row, New York, pp 4–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Michod RE (1979) Evolution of life histories in response to age-specific mortality factors. Am Nat 113:531–550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moustgaard J (1969) Nutritive influences on reproduction. In: Cole HH, Cupps PT (eds) Reproduction in domestic animals, 2nd edn. Academic Press, New York, pp 489–516

    Google Scholar 

  • Nur N (1984) The consequences of brood size for breeding blue tits. II. Nestling weight, offspring survival and optimal brood size. J Anim Ecol 53:497–517

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortiz CL, Costa D, Le Boeuf BJ (1978) Water and energy flux in elephant seal pups fasting under natural conditions. Physiol Zool 51:166–178

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER, Parker WS (1975) Age-specific reproductive tactics. Am Nat 109:453–464

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiter J (1984) Studies of female competition and reproductive success in the northern elephant seal. PhD Dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiter J, Panken KJ, Le Boeuf BJ (1981) Female competition and reproductive success in northern elephant seals. Anim Behav 29:670–687

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznick D (1985) Costs of reproduction: an evaluation of the empirical evidence. Oikos 44:257–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricklefs RE (1977) On the evolution and reproductive strategies in birds: reproductive effort. Am Nat 111:453–478

    Google Scholar 

  • Riedman ML, Le Boeuf BJ (1982) Mother-pup separation and adoption in northern elephant seals. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 11:203–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadleir RMFS (1969) The ecology of reproduction wild and domestic mammals. Methuen, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaffer WM, Rosenzweig ML (1977) Selection for optimal life histories II: Multiple equilibria and the evolution of alternative reproductive strategies. Ecology 58:60–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Sergeant DE (1973) Environment and reproduction in seals. J Reprod Fertil Suppl 19:555–561

    Google Scholar 

  • Shine R (1980) “Costs” of reproduction in reptiles. Oecologia (Berl) 46:92–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Stearns SC (1976) Life-history tactics: a review of the ideas. Q Rev Biol 51:3–47

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stearns SC (1980) A new view of life-history evolution. Oikos 35:266–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Stearns SC, Crandall RE (1980) Quantitative predictions of delayed maturity. Evolution 35:455–463

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart REA (1986) Energetics of age-specific reproductive effort in female Harp seals, Phoca groenlandica. J Zool (Lond) 208:503–517

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart REA, Lavigne DM (1984) Energy transfer and female condition in nursing harp seals, Phoca groenlandica. Holarct Ecol 7:182–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Tallamy DW, Denno RF (1982) Life history tradeoffs in Gargaphia solani (Hemiptera: Tingidae). Ecology 63:616–620

    Google Scholar 

  • Testa JW (1987) Long-term reproductive patterns and sighting bias in Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddelli). Can J Zool 65d:1091–1099

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner RB (1984) Deferred reproduction as a response to sexual selection in a coral reef fish: a test of the life historical consequences. Evolution 38:148–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson RM (1970) Generation time and intrinsic rates of natural increase in wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus alhojubatus Thomas). J Reprod Fertil 22:557–561

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams GC (1966a) Adaptation and natural selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams GC (1966b) Natural selection, costs of reproduction, and a refinement of Lack's principle. Am Nat 100:687–690

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • York AE (1979) Analysis of pregnancy rates in female fur seals in the combined United States-Canada Pelagic Collections, 1950–74. In: Kajimura SH, Landers RH, Perez MA, York AE, Biggs MA (eds) Preliminary analysis of pelatic fur seal data collected by the United States and Canada during 1958–74. Nat Mar Fish Serv, Seattle, Wash, pp 50–122

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, 95064, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Joanne Reiter & Burney J. Le Boeuf

Authors
  1. Joanne Reiter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Burney J. Le Boeuf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Offprint requests to: B.J. Le Boeuf

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Reiter, J., Le Boeuf, B.J. Life history consequences of variation in age at primiparity in northern elephant seals. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 28, 153–160 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172166

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172166

Keywords

Search

Navigation