Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, Colorado, USA.
Ecol Lett. 2024 Aug;27(8):e14485. doi: 10.1111/ele.14485.
Protecting populations contending with co-occurring stressors requires a better understanding of how multiple early-life stressors affect the fitness of natural systems. However, the complexity of such research has limited its advancement and prevented us from answering new questions. In human studies, cumulative risk models predict adult health risk based on early adversity exposure. We apply a similar framework in wild yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer). We tested cumulative adversity indices (CAIs) across different adversity types and time windows. All CAIs were associated with decreased pup survival and were well supported. Moderate and acute, but not standardized CAIs were associated with decreased lifespan, supporting the cumulative stress hypothesis and the endurance of early adversity. Multivariate models showed that differences in lifespan were driven by weaning date, precipitation, and maternal loss, but they performed poorly compared with CAI models. We highlight the development, utility, and insights of CAI approaches for ecology and conservation.
保护同时面临多种压力源的人群需要更好地了解多种早期生活压力源如何影响自然系统的适应性。然而，这种研究的复杂性限制了其发展，使我们无法回答新的问题。在人类研究中，累积风险模型基于早期逆境暴露来预测成人健康风险。我们在野生黄腹土拨鼠（Marmota flaviventer）中应用了类似的框架。我们测试了不同逆境类型和时间窗口的累积逆境指数（CAI）。所有 CAI 均与幼崽存活率降低有关，且均得到了很好的支持。中度和急性 CAI，但非标准化 CAI 与寿命缩短有关，这支持了累积应激假说和早期逆境的耐受性。多变量模型表明，寿命差异是由断奶日期、降水和母鼠死亡驱动的，但与 CAI 模型相比，这些模型的表现较差。我们强调了 CAI 方法在生态学和保护中的发展、效用和见解。
