The fate of natural populations is mediated by complex interactions among vital rates, which can vary within and among years. While the effects of random, among-year variation in vital rates have been studied extensively, relatively little is known about how periodic, non-random variation in vital r

These R scripts contain the code to replicate the analyses performed in Demographic consequences of changing environmental periodicity , Ecology. Vital-rate estimation We used the demographic data of each species to model periodic differences in vital rates for each life-cycle stage using generalize

The results suggest that yearling yellow-bellied marmots are more important for maintaining social cohesion than has previously been recognized, and that marmot colonies are largely organized based on age group and kinship.

It is demonstrated how earlier emergence from hibernation and earlier weaning of young has led to a longer growing season and larger body masses before hibernation, and this helps explain how a shift in phenology can cause simultaneous phenotypic and demographic changes.

Mammalian sociality varies both within and between species. We developed a trait-based method to quantify sociality in a continuous way to study the adaptive utility and evolution of male social behavior. The metric is based on 3 key traits—mutual tolerance, collaboration, and partner preference; ma

Many species are habitat specialists along environmental gradients as a result of contrasting selection pressures, but others maintain broad distributions along such gradients. Phenotypic plasticity explains the persistence of some generalists, but not the broad distributions of species with fixed t

AbstractAlarm calling is common in many species. A prevalent assumption is that calling puts the vocalizing individual at increased risk of predation. If calling is indeed costly, we need special explanations for its evolution and maintenance. In some, but not all species, callers vocalize away from

The preference–performance hypothesis predicts that when female herbivorous insects determine where to position offspring of low mobility, they will select sites that maximize development and survival of those offspring. How this critical relationship responds to variation in climatic and habitat co

AbstractAnimals must allocate some proportion of their time to detecting predators. In birds and mammals, such anti‐predator vigilance has been well studied, and we know that it may be influenced by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Despite hundreds of studies focusing on vigilance and s

Mutualisms are commonly dependent on the ecological context in which partners interact. In ant‐aphid interactions, the dietary status of ants has been hypothesized to be one factor that may mediate ant‐aphid interactions. This hypothesis was supported in one laboratory study with one ant species. We

Vigilance is an anti-predator behavior responsible for ensuring the survival of an individual. This behavior directly benefits the individual, as well as conspecifics by scanning for potential threats. The amount of time devoted to vigilance in yellow-bellied marmots varies based on many factors inc

Sexually selected traits are often plastic and can thus provide information on infection status and parasite load. Mounting an immune response has been shown to require the diversion of energy and resources away from other life history functions. Previous studies have demonstrated that bird song may

Previous studies by Pyke et al. have shown that bumblebees exhibit behavior that is consistent with optimal foraging theory. In this most recent effort, bumblebees were observed foraging on vertical inflorescences and their behavior was compared to a predicted model that would result in a maximum ne

Nectar robbing can affect both male and female components of plant reproduction. To understand the mechanisms driving those plant-reproductive outcomes, I studied the effects of nectar robbing on pollen deposition and pollinator behavior in the hummingbird-pollinated host plant Ipomopsis aggregata.

According to trade-off theory, animals weigh the benefits of obtaining resources against the risks of being preyed upon during these activities. One major factor that can influence an animal’s risk assessment is its current body condition, for example animals that are of lower body condition may be

Despite recent advances in biodemography and metapopulation ecology, we still have limited understanding of how local demographic parameters influence short- and long-term metapopulation dynamics. We used long-term data from 17 local populations, along with the recently developed methods of matrix m