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Fluctuating food resources influence developmental plasticity in wild boar
Marlène Gamelon1, Mathieu Douhard, Eric Baubet
1UMR 5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université de Lyon, 69000 Lyon, France. marlene.gamelon@univ-lyon1.fr
Biology Letters
|August 2, 2013
Summary
Wild boar females use a
Area of Science:
- Reproductive strategies in mammals
- Behavioral ecology
- Developmental plasticity
Background:
- Wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) females exhibit a 'coin-flipping' tactic to diversify offspring phenotypes.
- The influence of environmental factors, specifically food availability, on this tactic remains unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how food resource availability affects developmental plasticity in wild boar litters.
- To determine if wild boar females adjust offspring phenotype diversity based on stochastic food resources.
Main Methods:
- Long-term monitoring of wild boar populations.
- Analysis of litter composition and fetal size in relation to documented food availability.
- Comparison of reproductive tactics between juvenile and adult females.
Main Results:
- Juvenile females produced uniformly sized fetuses regardless of food availability.
- Adult females exhibited plasticity, allocating resources equally in poor food years and diversifying phenotypes in abundant food years.
- This plastic tactic in adult females appears to minimize sibling rivalry and maximize litter size.
Conclusions:
- Adult wild boar females demonstrate adaptive developmental plasticity in response to food availability.
- Phenotypic diversification within a litter is a strategy employed by adult females during resource abundance.
- This reproductive tactic enhances reproductive success by optimizing littermate survival and development.
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