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Individual mares bias investment in sons and daughters in relation to their condition
Citation
Cameron, EZ and Linklater, WL, Individual mares bias investment in sons and daughters in relation to their condition, Animal Behaviour, 60, (3) pp. 359-367. ISSN 0003-3472 (2000) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. All rights reserved.
DOI: doi:10.1006/anbe.2000.1480
Abstract
The Trivers–Willard hypothesis (TWH) predicts that a mother will treat a son or daughter differently
depending on her ability to invest and the impact of her investment on offspring reproductive success.
Although many studies have investigated the hypothesis, few have definitively supported or refuted it
because of confounding factors or an inappropriate level of analysis. We studied maternal investment in
sons and daughters in feral horses, Equus caballus, which meet the assumptions of the TWH with a
minimum of confounding variables. Population level analyses revealed no differences in maternal
behaviour towards sons and daughters. When we incorporated mare condition, we found that sons were
more costly to mares in good condition, whereas daughters were more costly to mares in poor condition,
although no differences in maternal behaviour were found. However, since the TWH makes predictions
about individual mothers, we examined investment by mares who reared both a son and a daughter in
different years of the study. Mares in good condition invested more in their sons in terms of maternal care
patterns, costs to maternal body condition and costs to future reproduction. Conversely, mares in poor
condition invested more in daughters. Therefore, with an appropriate level of analysis in a species in
which confounding variables are minimal, the predictions of the Trivers–Willard hypothesis are
supported.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Zoology |
Research Field: | Animal developmental and reproductive biology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Other environmental management |
Objective Field: | Other environmental management not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Cameron, EZ (Professor Elissa Cameron) |
ID Code: | 72612 |
Year Published: | 2000 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 56 |
Deposited By: | Zoology |
Deposited On: | 2011-08-29 |
Last Modified: | 2011-11-04 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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