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Individual heterogeneity and offspring sex affect the growth–reproduction trade-off in a mammal with indeterminate growth

  • Behavioral ecology –original research
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Abstract

Reproduction can lead to a trade-off with growth, particularly when individuals reproduce before completing body growth. Kangaroos have indeterminate growth and may always face this trade-off. We combined an experimental manipulation of reproductive effort and multi-year monitoring of a large sample size of marked individuals in two populations of eastern grey kangaroos to test the predictions (1) that reproduction decreases skeletal growth and mass gain and (2) that mass loss leads to reproductive failure. We also tested if sex-allocation strategies influenced these trade-offs. Experimental reproductive suppression revealed negative effects of reproduction on mass gain and leg growth from 1 year to the next. Unmanipulated females, however, showed a positive correlation between number of days lactating and leg growth over periods of 2 years and longer, suggesting that over the long term, reproductive costs were masked by individual heterogeneity in resource acquisition. Mass gain was necessary for reproductive success the subsequent year. Although mothers of daughters generally lost more mass than females nursing sons, mothers in poor condition experienced greater mass gain and arm growth if they had daughters than if they had sons. The strong links between individual mass changes and reproduction suggest that reproductive tactics are strongly resource-dependent.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all students and volunteers who assisted with kangaroo captures, and Sébastien Rioux-Paquette for statistical advice. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Parks Victoria, the Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP0560344) and the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment provided financial support. We thank Parks Victoria and the Anglesea Golf Club for logistic support. Research Endowment Animal handling and experimental procedures were approved by the Animal Care Committee of the Université de Sherbrooke (protocol MFB-2012-2) and by the Faculty of Science Animal Ethics Committee of the University of Melbourne (Projects 486-004-0-92-1157, 654-125-0-94-1617 and 06146).

Author contribution statement

UG and MFB conceived, designed, and executed this study. UG analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. MFB read and provided advice on an earlier version of the manuscript. UG, MFB, JC, MW, GC conducted fieldwork and provided advice on the last version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K2R1, Canada

    Uriel Gélin & Marco Festa-Bianchet

  2. School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Michelle E. Wilson, Jemma Cripps, Graeme Coulson & Marco Festa-Bianchet

  3. Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, CNRS-UMR 7247–Université de Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France

    Uriel Gélin

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  1. Uriel Gélin
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  2. Michelle E. Wilson
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  4. Graeme Coulson
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  5. Marco Festa-Bianchet
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Correspondence to Uriel Gélin.

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Communicated by Hannu J. Ylonen.

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Gélin, U., Wilson, M.E., Cripps, J. et al. Individual heterogeneity and offspring sex affect the growth–reproduction trade-off in a mammal with indeterminate growth. Oecologia 180, 1127–1135 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3531-z

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