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- Title
MALE TURNOVER REDUCES POPULATION GROWTH: AN ENCLOSURE EXPERIMENT ON VOLES.
- Authors
Andreassen, Harry P.; Gundersen, Gry
- Abstract
Turnover of individuals is assumed to cause disruptions of social organization, followed by reduced reproduction and survival. We tested how male turnover (removal of resident males and their replacement by unfamiliar males) affected population performance in experimental root vole (Microtus oeconomus) populations. The treatment simulated predation of adult males, with the subsequent replacement by immigrants, and provided insight into the interaction between extrinsic (i.e., predation) and intrinsic (i.e., social organization) factors. We showed that recruitment and female survival dramatically declined and that reproduction commenced slightly later in treatment populations compared with control populations. The treatment nearly halved the population growth rate. We suspect that recruitment failed due to infanticidal immigrating males. Reduced female survival was particularly apparent in treatment populations in which females exhibited a high degree of spatial overlap. Our experimental results show how males may significantly shape population dynamics and suggest how predation and social factors interact mechanistically.
- Subjects
POPULATION; VOLES; MICROTUS oeconomus; PREDATION; INFANTICIDE in animals; ANIMAL migration; REPRODUCTION; BIOTIC communities; ECOLOGY
- Publication
Ecology, 2006, Vol 87, Issue 1, p88
- ISSN
0012-9658
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1890/04-1574