Indirect fitness benefits do not compensate for the loss of direct fitness in yellow-bellied marmots
Abstract
Abstract The contribution of indirect fitness to inclusive fitness is expected to increase as the reproductive skew increases, with indirect fitness being the only component of inclusive fitness of sterile individuals in eusocial species. However, the relative contribution of indirect fitness to inclusive fitness has rarely been evaluated empirically. Using data from a long-term study (1962–2003), we show that female yellow-bellied marmots that have a later age of 1st successful reproduction incur a substantial loss of direct fitness with no corresponding gain in indirect fitness. Additionally, although females that survive to reproductive age but do not successfully reproduce have a greater indirect fitness than those that reproduce at least once, indirect fitness benefits of foregoing reproduction are insufficient to compensate for the loss of direct fitness resulting from later reproduction. Although indirect fitness composed 22.2% of the inclusive fitness of females that reproduced at least once, females that reproduced at least once had 2.3 times higher inclusive fitness than those that survived to reproductive age but never reproduced. These results suggest that, in yellow-bellied marmots and other species with similar life histories, the contribution of indirect fitness to inclusive fitness does not compensate for loss of direct fitness.
Local Knowledge Graph (14 entities)
Related Works
Items connected by shared entities, co-authorship, citations, or semantic similarity.
Sociality and individual fitness in yellow-bellied marmots: insights from a long-term study (1962-2001)
Social enhancement of fitness in yellow-bellied marmots
Genetic variation in social mammals: the marmot model
Data from: Cumulative reproductive costs on current reproduction in a wild polytocous mammal
Maternal survival costs in an asocial mammal: Data and analysis
Marmot mass gain rates relate to their group’s social structure
Ecosystem Disturbance and Wildlife Conservation in Western Grasslands
Small Mammal Survey, Acid Fen, Mt. Emmons Gunnison, Colorado
An Ecological Basis for Beaver Management in the Rocky Mountain Region
Cited 13 times
References (39)
12 in Knowledge Hub, 27 external