Reiner Rudolf, Zedrosser Andreas, Zeiler Hubert, Hackländer Klaus, Corlatti Luca
Berchtesgaden National Park Berchtesgaden Germany.
Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Vienna Austria.
Ecol Evol. 2022 Mar 7;12(3):e8650. doi: 10.1002/ece3.8650. eCollection 2022 Feb.
Uptake and use of energy are of key importance for animals living in temperate environments that undergo strong seasonal changes in forage quality and quantity. In ungulates, energy intake strongly affects body mass gain, an important component of individual fitness. Energy allocation among life-history traits can be affected by internal and external factors. Here, we investigate large-scale variation in body growth patterns of Alpine chamois , in relation to sex, age, temperature, and habitat variations across 31 (sub)populations in the Central European Alps. Taking advantage of an exceptionally large dataset ( = 178,175) of chamois hunted over 27 consecutive years between 1993 and 2019 in mountain ranges with different proportions of forest cover, we found that (i) patterns of body mass growth differ between mountain ranges, with lower body mass but faster mass growth with increasing proportion of forest cover and that (ii) the effect of spring and summer temperatures on changes in body growth patterns are larger in mountain ranges with lower forest cover compared to mountain ranges with higher forest cover. Our results show that patterns of body mass growth within a species are more plastic than expected and depend on environmental and climatic conditions. The recent decline in body mass observed in Alpine chamois populations may have greater impacts on populations living above the treeline than in forests, which may buffer against the effects of increasing temperatures on life-history traits.
对于生活在温带环境中的动物来说，能量的摄取和利用至关重要，因为这些环境的草料质量和数量会经历强烈的季节性变化。在有蹄类动物中，能量摄入会强烈影响体重增加，而体重增加是个体健康的一个重要组成部分。生活史特征之间的能量分配可能会受到内部和外部因素的影响。在这里，我们研究了阿尔卑斯岩羚羊身体生长模式的大规模变化，这些变化与中欧阿尔卑斯山31个（亚）种群的性别、年龄、温度和栖息地变化有关。利用1993年至2019年连续27年在森林覆盖率不同的山脉中猎捕的岩羚羊的一个异常大的数据集（n = 178,175），我们发现：（i）不同山脉的体重增长模式不同，随着森林覆盖率的增加，体重较低但体重增长较快；并且（ii）与森林覆盖率较高的山脉相比，春季和夏季温度对身体生长模式变化的影响在森林覆盖率较低的山脉中更大。我们的结果表明，一个物种内的体重增长模式比预期的更具可塑性，并且取决于环境和气候条件。最近在阿尔卑斯岩羚羊种群中观察到的体重下降可能对生活在林线以上的种群产生比在森林中更大的影响，森林可能会缓冲温度升高对生活史特征的影响。
