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Condition‐dependent reproductive success in bighorn ewes
Author(s) -
FestaBianchet
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1461-0248.1998.00023.x
Subject(s) - ovis canadensis , biology , reproductive success , reproduction , ovis , ecology , weaning , reproductive strategy , zoology , demography , population , sociology
Individual bighorn ewes ( Ovis canadensis ) at 4–14 years of age were 1.5% heavier preceding years when they weaned a lamb than preceding years when their lamb died before weaning. Intra‐individual differences in mass between years of successful and unsuccessful reproduction appeared independent of a ewe’s multiyear average mass. Relative mass loss both in the winter before and in the winter after a given repro‐ductive episode increased with reproductive success. Long‐term monitoring of individual mass and reproductive success is a promising technique to study life histories in capital breeders, because it allows to partially account for differences in reproductive potential.