A milk-sharing economy allows placental mammals to overcome their metabolic limits
Open access
Date
2022-03-08Type
- Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
no
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Abstract
Maternal resource availability and metabolism have a strong limiting effect on reproductive output. Allomaternal care and domestication increase the energy available to the mother and should correlate with an increase in reproductive output. Here, we take a comparative approach to understand how this increase is accomplished (e.g., litter mass, reproductive frequency, etc.) and the strength of the effect among different forms of external energetic supplementation. We find that domestication and all forms of allocare correlate with increased fertility. All forms of provisioning correlate with larger litters without compromising offspring size. The greatest increase we observe in reproductive power is in species that practice allonursing. Our results suggest that the ultimate factor limiting reproductive output in placental mammals is maternal metabolic power rather than resource availability. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000594374Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
National Academy of SciencesSubject
alloparenting; Domestication; allonursing; REPRODUCTION (ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY); life history evolution; life history strategy; life history trade-offs; Life history characteristics; EVOLUTION (BIOLOGIE); Phylogenetic analysisOrganisational unit
02803 - Collegium Helveticum / Collegium Helveticum
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ETH Bibliography
no
Altmetrics