Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Volume 146, Issue 4, Pages 582-593Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21605
Keywords
fitness; longevity; fertility; offspring survival; dominance; life history
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Funding
- Karisoke Research Center
- Max Planck Society
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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 (kind), but kind showed diminishing benefits for greater longevity. Am J Phys Anthropol 146:582-593, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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