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Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae)
For sea snakes as for many types of animals, long-term studies on population biology are rare and hence, we do not understand the degree to which annual variation in population sizes is driven by density-dependent regulation versus by stochastic abiotic factors. We monitored three populations of tur...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8526600/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34667211 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00245-2 |
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author | Shine, Richard Brown, Gregory P. Goiran, Claire |
author_facet | Shine, Richard Brown, Gregory P. Goiran, Claire |
author_sort | Shine, Richard |
collection | PubMed |
description | For sea snakes as for many types of animals, long-term studies on population biology are rare and hence, we do not understand the degree to which annual variation in population sizes is driven by density-dependent regulation versus by stochastic abiotic factors. We monitored three populations of turtle-headed sea snakes (Emydocephalus annulatus) in New Caledonia over an 18-year period. Annual recruitment (% change in numbers) showed negative density-dependence: that is, recruitment increased when population densities were low, and decreased when densities were high. Windy weather during winter increased survival of neonates, perhaps by shielding them from predation; but those same weather conditions reduced body condition and the reproductive output of adult snakes. The role for density-dependence in annual dynamics of these populations is consistent with the slow, K-selected life-history attributes of the species; and the influence of weather conditions on reproductive output suggests that females adjust their allocation to reproduction based on food availability during vitellogenesis. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8526600 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-85266002021-10-20 Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) Shine, Richard Brown, Gregory P. Goiran, Claire Sci Rep Article For sea snakes as for many types of animals, long-term studies on population biology are rare and hence, we do not understand the degree to which annual variation in population sizes is driven by density-dependent regulation versus by stochastic abiotic factors. We monitored three populations of turtle-headed sea snakes (Emydocephalus annulatus) in New Caledonia over an 18-year period. Annual recruitment (% change in numbers) showed negative density-dependence: that is, recruitment increased when population densities were low, and decreased when densities were high. Windy weather during winter increased survival of neonates, perhaps by shielding them from predation; but those same weather conditions reduced body condition and the reproductive output of adult snakes. The role for density-dependence in annual dynamics of these populations is consistent with the slow, K-selected life-history attributes of the species; and the influence of weather conditions on reproductive output suggests that females adjust their allocation to reproduction based on food availability during vitellogenesis. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-10-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8526600/ /pubmed/34667211 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00245-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Shine, Richard Brown, Gregory P. Goiran, Claire Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) |
title | Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) |
title_full | Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) |
title_fullStr | Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) |
title_full_unstemmed | Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) |
title_short | Population dynamics of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) |
title_sort | population dynamics of the sea snake emydocephalus annulatus (elapidae, hydrophiinae) |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8526600/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34667211 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00245-2 |
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