TY - JOUR
T1 - Similar patterns of age-specific reproduction in an island and mainland population of great tits Parus major
AU - Bouwhuis, S.
AU - Van Noordwijk, A.J.
AU - Sheldon, B.C.
AU - Verhulst, S.
AU - Visser, M.E.
N1 - Reporting year: 2010
Metis note: 4915;CTE; AnE; file:///L:\EndnoteDatabases\NIOOPUB\pdfs\PDFS2010\Bouwhuis_ea_4915.pdf
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - The process of ageing was long thought to be too infrequent to affect life-histories in natural populations. Long-term studies have, however, recently demonstrated ageing to be ubiquitous even in the wild, although confounding factors, such as emigration instead of mortality, or inter-population variation in rates of ageing have seldom been addressed. Here, we present analyses of female age-specific reproductive performance in a Dutch island population of great tits Parus major. For this population with limited connectivity to surrounding areas, we show that, between individuals, reproductive lifespan positively co-varies with recruit production, while within individuals performance improves up to 3 years of age, after which it gradually declines. We also show these patterns to be strikingly similar to those recently found in a less isolated British mainland population of great tits, characterised by different environmental conditions and life-history strategies, in particular the frequency of multiple breeding. Our results therefore suggest patterns of agespecific reproductive performance to be robust to both environmental and life-history variation.
AB - The process of ageing was long thought to be too infrequent to affect life-histories in natural populations. Long-term studies have, however, recently demonstrated ageing to be ubiquitous even in the wild, although confounding factors, such as emigration instead of mortality, or inter-population variation in rates of ageing have seldom been addressed. Here, we present analyses of female age-specific reproductive performance in a Dutch island population of great tits Parus major. For this population with limited connectivity to surrounding areas, we show that, between individuals, reproductive lifespan positively co-varies with recruit production, while within individuals performance improves up to 3 years of age, after which it gradually declines. We also show these patterns to be strikingly similar to those recently found in a less isolated British mainland population of great tits, characterised by different environmental conditions and life-history strategies, in particular the frequency of multiple breeding. Our results therefore suggest patterns of agespecific reproductive performance to be robust to both environmental and life-history variation.
U2 - 10.1111/j.1600-048X.2010.05111.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1600-048X.2010.05111.x
M3 - Article
SN - 0908-8857
VL - 41
SP - 615
EP - 620
JO - Journal of Avian Biology
JF - Journal of Avian Biology
IS - 6
ER -