Hurricanes affect diversification among individual life courses of a primate population

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Climate Change Research

Background:

• Extreme climatic events significantly impact wildlife populations.
• Hurricanes are predicted to increase in frequency, yet their effects on individual life courses remain understudied.
• Understanding these impacts is crucial for predicting evolutionary trajectories.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the influence of major hurricanes on individual life courses in rhesus macaques.
• To analyze how hurricanes affect reproductive strategies and life-history trait variances.
• To assess the impact of hurricanes on population dynamics and evolutionary pace.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 45 years of demographic data from a rhesus macaque population.
• Applied multiple metrics of dynamic heterogeneity to assess life course variability.
• Analyzed changes in reproductive trajectories, fertility, survival, and population growth rates.

Main Results:

• Reproductive life course heterogeneity increased by 4% during major hurricane years.
• A 2% reduction in asymptotic growth rate was observed due to decreased mean fertility and survival.
• Populations recovered faster post-hurricane, indicating adaptive demographic shifts.
• Variability in lifetime reproductive success and longevity was differentially affected, primarily by survival.

Conclusions:

• Natural disasters like hurricanes can induce new demographic roles in individuals to mitigate competition.
• Despite reduced mean fitness, increased individual variability may facilitate faster population recovery.
• Hurricanes can alter evolutionary trajectories by influencing survival and reproductive success variances.