Mating System and Reproductive Success in a Free-Living Population of the Bank Vole, Clethrionomys Glareolus

1990 ◽  
pp. 193-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał D. Sikorski ◽  
Anna M. Wójcik
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Bank Vole ◽  
Clethrionomys Glareolus ◽  
Free Living

scholarly journals Effects of litter size on pup defence and weaning success of neighbouring bank vole females

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pernilla Jonsson ◽  
Jep Agrell ◽  
Esa Koskela ◽  
Tapio Mappes
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
Bank Vole ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clethrionomys Glareolus ◽  
Bank Voles ◽  
Litter Size Manipulation

Reproductive success of territorial female mammals depends partly on their capability to defend their young from conspecific intruders. However, how this is related to the characteristics of females and their litter sizes is largely unknown. The defence activity of 25 female bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) in relation to the number of offspring was studied in a behavioural arena by manipulating litter sizes (–2 pups or +2 pups). Infanticidal male bank voles were used as intruders–predators. Moreover, the weaning success (weaned at least one offspring or none) of 15 pairs of neighbouring females was investigated in a large indoor runway system. In each pair of females, the litter size of one female was reduced (–2 pups) and the litter size of the other enlarged (+2 pups). Defence activity of females increased with the number of offspring and the mother's size. However, weaning success of neighbours was related only to their body mass, and litter-size manipulation did not affect weaning success. Present results indicate that, although bank vole females increase their defence intensity with an increase in the number of pups, the weaning success of neighbouring females may be primarily determined by their size and dominance rank.

Effect of conspecifics on winter movements and dispersion in an overwintering bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) population

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fredric Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Bank Vole ◽  
Reproductive Season ◽  
Clethrionomys Glareolus ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Early Access ◽  
Males And Females

Patterns of movements and dispersion were studied in a population of the bank vole, Clethrionomys glareolus, during two winters near Uppsala, Sweden. Forty-one percent of the individuals studied were involved in multiple captures. However, multiple captures accounted for only 2% of all captures. Males and females were most often caught together in multiple captures. An overlap in home range was more pronounced in females than in males during winter. The reverse was observed during the reproductive season. An increase in mean distance, calculated for neighbours within 40 m of the center of activity, was observed among persistent females from October to May. Statistically significant differences were obtained when mean distances were compared between females still present in the trapping area in May who then produced young and females trapped up to April but not thereafter. Thus, early access to optimally spaced, high quality home ranges may be important for reproductive success in spring. Extensive overlapping of female home ranges in winter at low population density may be a consequence of habitat conditions.

Variation in reproductive success of male and female Columbian ground squirrels (Urocitellus columbianus)

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 736-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip H. Jones ◽  
Jeffrey L. Van Zant ◽  
F. Stephen Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Multiple Paternity ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Bateman Gradient ◽  
Coefficients Of Variation ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Columbian Ground Squirrels

The imbalanced reproductive success of polygynous mammals results in sexual selection on male traits like body size. Males and females might have more balanced reproductive success under polygynandry, where both sexes mate multiply. Using 4 years of microsatellite DNA analyses of paternity and known maternity, we investigated variation in reproductive success of Columbian ground squirrels, Urocitellus columbianus (Ord, 1815); a species with multiple mating by both sexes and multiple paternity of litters. We asked whether male reproductive success was more variable than that of females under this mating system. The overall percentage of confirmed paternity was 61.4% of 339 offspring. The mean rate of multiple paternity in litters with known fathers was 72.4% (n = 29 litters). Estimated mean reproductive success of males (10.27 offspring) was about thrice that of females (3.11 offspring). Even after this difference was taken into account statistically, males were about three times as variable in reproductive success as females (coefficients of variation = 77.84% and 26.74%, respectively). The Bateman gradient (regression slope of offspring production on number of successful mates) was significantly greater for males (βM = 1.44) than females (βF = 0.28). Thus, under a polygynandrous mating system, males exhibited greater variation in reproductive success than females.

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