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Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal

Global climate change and associated regional climate variability is impacting the phenology of many species, ultimately altering individual fitness and population dynamics. Yet, few studies have considered the effects of pertinent seasonal climate variability on phenology and fitness. Hibernators m...

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Autores principales: Falvo, Caylee A., Koons, David N., Aubry, Lise M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6468137/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31015964
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5000
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author Falvo, Caylee A.
Koons, David N.
Aubry, Lise M.
author_facet Falvo, Caylee A.
Koons, David N.
Aubry, Lise M.
author_sort Falvo, Caylee A.
collection PubMed
description Global climate change and associated regional climate variability is impacting the phenology of many species, ultimately altering individual fitness and population dynamics. Yet, few studies have considered the effects of pertinent seasonal climate variability on phenology and fitness. Hibernators may be particularly susceptible to changes in seasonal climate since they have a relatively short active season in which to reproduce and gain enough mass to survive the following winter. To understand whether and how seasonal climate variability may be affecting hibernator fitness, we estimated survival from historical (1964–1968) and contemporary (2014–2017) mark–recapture data collected from the same population of Uinta ground squirrels (UGS, Urocitellus armatus), a hibernator endemic to the western United States. Despite a locally warming climate, the phenology of UGS did not change over time, yet season‐specific climate variables were important in regulating survival rates. Specifically, older age classes experienced lower survival when winters or the following springs were warm, while juveniles benefited from warmer winter temperatures. Although metabolic costs decrease with decreasing temperature in the hibernacula, arousal costs increase with decreasing temperature. Our results suggest that this trade‐off is experienced differently by immature and mature individuals. We also observed an increase in population density during that time period, suggesting resources are less limited today than they used to be. Cheatgrass is now dominating the study site and may provide a better food source to UGS than native plants did historically.
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spelling pubmed-64681372019-04-23 Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal Falvo, Caylee A. Koons, David N. Aubry, Lise M. Ecol Evol Original Research Global climate change and associated regional climate variability is impacting the phenology of many species, ultimately altering individual fitness and population dynamics. Yet, few studies have considered the effects of pertinent seasonal climate variability on phenology and fitness. Hibernators may be particularly susceptible to changes in seasonal climate since they have a relatively short active season in which to reproduce and gain enough mass to survive the following winter. To understand whether and how seasonal climate variability may be affecting hibernator fitness, we estimated survival from historical (1964–1968) and contemporary (2014–2017) mark–recapture data collected from the same population of Uinta ground squirrels (UGS, Urocitellus armatus), a hibernator endemic to the western United States. Despite a locally warming climate, the phenology of UGS did not change over time, yet season‐specific climate variables were important in regulating survival rates. Specifically, older age classes experienced lower survival when winters or the following springs were warm, while juveniles benefited from warmer winter temperatures. Although metabolic costs decrease with decreasing temperature in the hibernacula, arousal costs increase with decreasing temperature. Our results suggest that this trade‐off is experienced differently by immature and mature individuals. We also observed an increase in population density during that time period, suggesting resources are less limited today than they used to be. Cheatgrass is now dominating the study site and may provide a better food source to UGS than native plants did historically. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019-02-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6468137/ /pubmed/31015964 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5000 Text en © 2019 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Falvo, Caylee A.
Koons, David N.
Aubry, Lise M.
Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal
title Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal
title_full Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal
title_fullStr Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal
title_short Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal
title_sort seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernating mammal
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6468137/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31015964
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5000
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