title: The influence of weather conditions during gestation on life histories in a wild Arctic ungulate.
abstract: The internal predictive adaptive response (internal PAR) hypothesis predicts that individuals born in poor conditions should start to reproduce earlier if they are likely to have reduced performance in later life. However, whether this is the case remains unexplored in wild populations. Here, we use longitudinal data from a long-term study of Svalbard reindeer to examine age-related changes in adult female life-history responses to environmental conditions experienced in utero as indexed by rain-on-snow (ROSutero). We show that females experiencing high ROSuterohad reduced reproductive success only from 7 years of age, independent of early reproduction. These individuals were able to maintain the same annual reproductive success between 2 and 6 years as phenotypically superior conspecifics that experienced low ROSuteroYoung females born after high ROSuteroengage in reproductive events at lower body mass (about 2.5 kg less) than those born after low ROSuteroThe mean fitness of females that experienced poor environmental conditions in early life was comparable with that of females exposed to good environmental conditions in early life. These results are consistent with the idea of internal PAR and suggest that the life-history responses to early-life conditions can buffer the delayed effects of weather on population dynamics.
authors: Université de Lyon, 69000, Lyon; Université Lyon 1; CNRS, UMR 5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, 69622 Villeurbanne, France mathieu.douhard@gmail.com.|Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Aas, Norway.
authors: Mathieu
authors: 0000-0001-9422-7270
authors: M
authors: Douhard
authors: Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Aas, Norway.
authors: Leif Egil
authors: LE
authors: Loe
authors: Department for Arctic Ecology, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Fram Centre, 9296 Tromsø, Norway.
authors: Audun
authors: A
authors: Stien
authors: Université de Lyon, 69000, Lyon; Université Lyon 1; CNRS, UMR 5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
authors: Christophe
authors: C
authors: Bonenfant
authors: The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK.
authors: R Justin
authors: RJ
authors: Irvine
authors: Department for Terrestrial Ecology, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7485 Trondheim, Norway.
authors: Vebjørn
authors: V
authors: Veiberg
authors: Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 0033 Oslo, Norway.
authors: Erik
authors: E
authors: Ropstad
authors: The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK.
authors: Steve
authors: S
authors: Albon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011247:Pregnancy; D012053:Reindeer / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction; D013538:Svalbard; D014887:Weather
keywords: Svalbard reindeer; climate change; cohort; development; phenotypic plasticity; predictive adaptive response