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Mama’s boy: sex differences in juvenile survival in a highly dimorphic large mammal, the Galapagos sea lion

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Abstract

In many mammals, early survival differs between the sexes, with males proving the more fragile sex [“Fragile male (FM) hypothesis”], especially in sexually dimorphic species where males are the larger sex. Male-biased allocation (MBA) by females may offset this difference. Here, we evaluate support for the FM and MBA hypotheses using a dataset on Galapagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki). We statistically model sex-specific survival as it depends on body mass and environmental conditions (sea surface temperature, SST, a correlate of marine productivity) at three developmental stages, the perinatal phase (1st month), the main lactation period (1st year), and the weaning period (2nd year). Supporting the FM hypothesis, we found that, early in life (1st month), at equal birth mass, males survived less well than females. During the remainder of the first year of life, male survival was actually less sensitive to harsh environmental conditions than that of females, contradicting the FM hypothesis and supporting the MBA hypothesis. During the second year of life, only male survival suffered with high SSTs as predicted by the FM hypothesis. At each developmental stage, observed survival rates were almost equal for both sexes, suggesting that mothers buffer against the inherent fragility of male offspring through increased allocation, thereby masking the differences in survival prospects between the sexes.

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Notes

  1. For the code, see, e.g., https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-sig-mixed-models/2011q1/005176.html

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by VW-Stiftung, Friends of the Galapagos Switzerland, and the German Research Foundation (TR 105/18 1–2). We are grateful for the permission to work and the close collaboration of the Galápagos National Park Service and for the support of the Charles Darwin Research Station, especially for the permission to use their SST data. J.-M. Gaillard and two anonymous reviewers gave valuable input to the final version. This study could not have been done without the enduring field assistance by many helpers particularly of M. Fowler, J. Jeglinski, K. Martin, J.P. Muñoz, D. Serrano, C. Suarez, K. Torres and C. Youngflesh. C. Schultz helped in designing the database.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology/Sociobiology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany

    C. Kraus

  2. Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Bielefeld, PO Box 100131, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany

    B. Mueller, K. Meise, P. Piedrahita, U. Pörschmann & F. Trillmich

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  1. C. Kraus
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  2. B. Mueller
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  3. K. Meise
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  4. P. Piedrahita
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  5. U. Pörschmann
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  6. F. Trillmich
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Correspondence to F. Trillmich.

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Communicated by Jean-Michel Gaillard.

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Kraus, C., Mueller, B., Meise, K. et al. Mama’s boy: sex differences in juvenile survival in a highly dimorphic large mammal, the Galapagos sea lion. Oecologia 171, 893–903 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2469-7

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