Maternal parity influences the birth sex ratio and birth interval of captive Francois’ langur (Trachypithecus francoisi)

IF 1.9 2区生物学 Q3 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Pub Date : 2023-12-14 DOI:10.1007/s00265-023-03408-5

Bojun Yi, Song Wang, Tao Sun, Ruoshuang Liu, Michael J. Lawes, Li Yang, Xuefeng Liu, Yifeng Li, Chengming Huang, Qihai Zhou, Penglai Fan

{"title":"Maternal parity influences the birth sex ratio and birth interval of captive Francois’ langur (Trachypithecus francoisi)","authors":"Bojun Yi, Song Wang, Tao Sun, Ruoshuang Liu, Michael J. Lawes, Li Yang, Xuefeng Liu, Yifeng Li, Chengming Huang, Qihai Zhou, Penglai Fan","doi":"10.1007/s00265-023-03408-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Abstract</h3><p>The age and parity of female primates could reflect their physical condition and reproductive experience. Consequently, the individual age-parity dependent condition of mothers and the survival of their offspring represents a fitness tradeoff. This reproductive tradeoff is expressed in the individual birth sex ratio, offspring mortality and interbirth interval (IBI). Maternal antenatal and postnatal investment hypotheses predict that more female offspring are produced by experienced mothers in poor condition (Trivers-Willard hypothesis), and that offspring mortality decreases and IBI shortens with parity (targeted reproductive effort hypothesis). Here we test the latter predictions in captive populations of the endangered Francois’ langur (<i>Trachypithecus francoisi</i>), using long-term demographic and reproductive data from 21 Chinese zoos and three breeding centers. In these captive populations, birth sex ratio changed slightly from male-biased to female-biased as parity increased above five offspring in experienced mothers, consistent with the Trivers-Willard hypothesis. Although mortality of male offspring was greater than female offspring, overall offspring mortality did not vary with maternal parity. There was no significant difference in duration of postnatal care or IBI between male and female offspring. However, IBI for both female and male offspring shortened overall with increasing parity, as predicted by the targeted reproductive effort hypothesis. Females with more reproductive experience that produce more female offspring are critical to captive breeding programs that aim to increase the overall viable population size of this endangered species.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Significance statement</h3><p>For primates with a slow life-history, it is important to understand how mothers age and parity affects their reproductive fitness. We investigated maternal investment strategies of captive Francois’ langurs, specifically the effect of age and parity on the birth sex ratio, offspring mortality and interbirth interval. Mothers relied more on parity (i.e., their experience) to adjust the birth sex ratio, and had more sons in the first few parities. Mothers also spent significantly less time taking care of offspring as their reproductive experience increased and physical condition was likely declining. Thus, Francois’ langurs are able to adjust their investment in reproduction as they become more experienced (greater parity) to optimize reproductive fitness.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03408-5","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

The age and parity of female primates could reflect their physical condition and reproductive experience. Consequently, the individual age-parity dependent condition of mothers and the survival of their offspring represents a fitness tradeoff. This reproductive tradeoff is expressed in the individual birth sex ratio, offspring mortality and interbirth interval (IBI). Maternal antenatal and postnatal investment hypotheses predict that more female offspring are produced by experienced mothers in poor condition (Trivers-Willard hypothesis), and that offspring mortality decreases and IBI shortens with parity (targeted reproductive effort hypothesis). Here we test the latter predictions in captive populations of the endangered Francois’ langur (Trachypithecus francoisi), using long-term demographic and reproductive data from 21 Chinese zoos and three breeding centers. In these captive populations, birth sex ratio changed slightly from male-biased to female-biased as parity increased above five offspring in experienced mothers, consistent with the Trivers-Willard hypothesis. Although mortality of male offspring was greater than female offspring, overall offspring mortality did not vary with maternal parity. There was no significant difference in duration of postnatal care or IBI between male and female offspring. However, IBI for both female and male offspring shortened overall with increasing parity, as predicted by the targeted reproductive effort hypothesis. Females with more reproductive experience that produce more female offspring are critical to captive breeding programs that aim to increase the overall viable population size of this endangered species.

Significance statement

For primates with a slow life-history, it is important to understand how mothers age and parity affects their reproductive fitness. We investigated maternal investment strategies of captive Francois’ langurs, specifically the effect of age and parity on the birth sex ratio, offspring mortality and interbirth interval. Mothers relied more on parity (i.e., their experience) to adjust the birth sex ratio, and had more sons in the first few parities. Mothers also spent significantly less time taking care of offspring as their reproductive experience increased and physical condition was likely declining. Thus, Francois’ langurs are able to adjust their investment in reproduction as they become more experienced (greater parity) to optimize reproductive fitness.

Abstract Image

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

母性的奇偶性影响人工饲养的弗朗索瓦叶猴（Trachypithecus francoisi）的出生性别比和间隔期

摘要雌性灵长类动物的年龄和胎次可以反映其身体状况和生殖经验。因此，个体的年龄-胎次依赖条件的母亲和他们的后代的生存代表一种健康权衡。这种生殖权衡表现在个体出生性别比、后代死亡率和生育间隔(IBI)上。母体产前和产后投资假说预测，条件较差的经验丰富的母亲会产生更多的雌性后代(Trivers-Willard假说)，并且随着胎次的增加，后代死亡率降低，IBI缩短(有针对性的生殖努力假说)。本文利用中国21个动物园和3个繁殖中心的长期人口统计和繁殖数据，在濒危的弗朗索瓦叶猴(Trachypithecus francoisi)圈养种群中验证了后者的预测。在这些圈养种群中，当经验丰富的母亲的胎次增加到5个以上时，出生性比例从男性偏向到女性偏向略有变化，这与特里弗斯-威拉德假说一致。虽然雄性后代的死亡率高于雌性后代，但总体后代死亡率不随母亲胎次而变化。雌雄后代的产后护理时间和IBI没有显著差异。然而，正如目标生殖努力假说所预测的那样，雌性和雄性后代的IBI总体上随着胎次的增加而缩短。拥有更多繁殖经验的雌性会产生更多的雌性后代，这对于旨在增加这种濒危物种的整体可生存种群规模的圈养繁殖计划至关重要。对于生命史缓慢的灵长类动物来说，了解母亲的年龄和胎次如何影响它们的生殖健康是很重要的。研究了圈养弗朗索瓦叶猴的母性投资策略，特别是年龄和胎次对出生性别比、后代死亡率和生育间隔的影响。母亲更多地依靠胎次(即她们的经验)来调整出生性别比，并且在前几个胎中生了更多的儿子。随着母亲生育经验的增加和身体状况的下降，她们照顾后代的时间也明显减少。因此，当弗朗索瓦的叶猴变得更有经验(更均等)时，它们能够调整自己在繁殖方面的投资，以优化繁殖适应性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 生物-动物学

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

8.70%

发文量

146

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： The journal publishes reviews, original contributions and commentaries dealing with quantitative empirical and theoretical studies in the analysis of animal behavior at the level of the individual, group, population, community, and species.