Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2011 Dec;146(4):582-93. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21605. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
Studies of lifetime reproductive success (LRS) are important for understanding population dynamics and life history strategies, yet relatively little information is available for long-lived species. This study provides a preliminary assessment of LRS among female mountain gorillas in the Virunga volcanoes region. Adult females produced an average of 3.6 ± 2.1 surviving offspring during their lifetime, which indicates a growing population that contrasts with most other great apes. The standardized variance in LRS (variance/mean(2) = 0.34) was lower than many other mammals and birds. When we excluded the most apparent source of environmental variability (poaching), the average LRS increased to 4.3 ± 1.8 and the standardized variance dropped in half. Adult lifespan was a greater source of variance in LRS than fertility or offspring survival. Females with higher LRS had significantly longer adult lifespans and higher dominance ranks. Results for LRS were similar to another standard fitness measurement, the individually estimated finite rate of increase (λ(ind) ), but λ(ind) showed diminishing benefits for greater longevity.
对终生繁殖成功率（LRS）的研究对于了解种群动态和生活史策略非常重要，但对于长寿物种的相关信息却相对较少。本研究初步评估了维龙加火山地区山地大猩猩的 LRS。成年雌性一生中平均生育了 3.6±2.1 个存活后代，这表明该种群呈增长趋势，与大多数其他大猿类形成鲜明对比。LRS 的标准化方差（方差/均值的平方=0.34）低于许多其他哺乳动物和鸟类。当我们排除最明显的环境变异来源（偷猎）时，平均 LRS 增加到 4.3±1.8，标准化方差降低了一半。在 LRS 中，成年寿命比生育率或后代存活率更能引起变异。LRS 较高的雌性具有更长的成年寿命和更高的统治等级。LRS 的结果与另一个标准的适合度衡量标准，即个体估计的有限增长率（λ（ind））相似，但 λ（ind）对于更长的寿命的收益递减。
