Stochastic and Compensatory Effects Limit Persistence of Variation in Body Mass of Young Caribou

2008/10/01 by Bruce W. Dale, Layne G. Adams, William Collins +5 · 32 citations
Environmental Science · Medicine · #Animal science #Biology #Cohort #Compensatory growth (organ) #Ecology #Endocrinology #Fish Ecology and Management Studies #Internal medicine #Marine animal studies overview #Medicine #Persistence (discontinuity) #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Zoology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1644/07-mamm-a-137.1

published in Journal of Mammalogy 89(5), 1130-1135 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2008/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Nutritional restriction during growth can have short- and long-term effects on fitness; however, animals inhabiting uncertain environments may exhibit adaptations to cope with variation in food availability. We examined changes in body mass in free-ranging female caribou (Rangifer tarandus) by measuring mass at birth and at 4, 11, and 16 months of age to evaluate the relative importance of seasonal nutrition to growth, the persistence of cohort-specific variation in body mass through time, and compensatory growth of individuals. Relative mean body mass of cohorts did not persist through time. Compensatory growth of smaller individuals was not observed in summer; however, small calves exhibited more positive change in body mass than did large calves. Compensation occurred during periods of nutritional restriction (winter) rather than during periods of rapid growth (summer) thus differing from the conventional view of compensatory growth.

Cited by

• Animal‐defined resources reveal nutritional inadequacies for woodland caribou during summer–autumn
• Regional and seasonal patterns of nutritional condition and reproduction in elk
• Seasonal patterns in nutritional condition of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in the southern Northwest Territories and northeastern British Columbia, Canada
• Hand‐Rearing Wild Caribou Calves for Studies of Nutritional Ecology
• Non-Invasive Assessment of the Interrelationships of Diet, Pregnancy Rate, Group Composition, and Physiological and Nutritional Stress of Barren-Ground Caribou in Late Winter
• Climate Degradation and Extreme Icing Events Constrain Life in Cold-Adapted Mammals. [europepmc]
• Behavioral, Physiological, Demographic and Ecological Impacts of Hematophagous and Endoparasitic Insects on an Arctic Ungulate. [europepmc]
• Variation in winter site fidelity within and among individuals influences movement behavior in a partially migratory ungulate. [europepmc]
• Evidence for an Adaptive, Large-Scale Range Shift in a Long-Distance Terrestrial Migrant. [europepmc]

Related

• Comparative body composition strategies of breeding and nonbreeding female caribou
• Seasonal patterns in nutritional condition of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in the southern Northwest Territories and northeastern British Columbia, Canada
• State-dependent foraging by caribou with different nutritional requirements
• Animal‐defined resources reveal nutritional inadequacies for woodland caribou during summer–autumn
• Winter energy balance and activity of female caribou on Coats Island, Northwest Territories: the relative importance of foraging and body reserves