Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog

We tested the hypothesis that ungulates time and synchronize births to match gestation and lactation with peak food availability and quality in seasonal environments, using ground counts of topi and warthog conducted over 174 months (July 1989–December 2003) in the Mara–Serengeti ecosystem. During t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ogutu, Joseph O., Piepho, Hans-Peter, Dublin, H.T., Bhola, N., Reid, Robin S.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/468
_version_ 1855541151421956096
author Ogutu, Joseph O.
Piepho, Hans-Peter
Dublin, H.T.
Bhola, N.
Reid, Robin S.
author_browse Bhola, N.
Dublin, H.T.
Ogutu, Joseph O.
Piepho, Hans-Peter
Reid, Robin S.
author_facet Ogutu, Joseph O.
Piepho, Hans-Peter
Dublin, H.T.
Bhola, N.
Reid, Robin S.
author_sort Ogutu, Joseph O.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description We tested the hypothesis that ungulates time and synchronize births to match gestation and lactation with peak food availability and quality in seasonal environments, using ground counts of topi and warthog conducted over 174 months (July 1989–December 2003) in the Mara–Serengeti ecosystem. During this 15-year period, 2,725 newborn and 45,574 adult female topi and 933 newborn and 7,831 adult warthogs were recorded. Births were distinctly synchronized in both species but far less so than in ungulates in temperate regions. Extreme droughts delayed onset and reduced synchrony of calving and natality rates but high rainfall advanced onset and increased synchrony of calving and natality rates in both species, supporting the seasonality hypothesis. Annual shifts in birth peaks were significantly negatively correlated with the preceding wet season rainfall. Varying the timing and synchrony of births and natality rates are widespread but little understood adaptations of ungulates to climatic extremes. Climate change heightens the need for advancing this understanding because increasing frequency and severity of droughts is likely to decouple phenology of breeding in seasonally breeding ungulates from that in their food plants. Similar studies of African ungulates are either extremely rare or non-existent. New approaches to estimating the time of peak births and its confidence limits and the degree of synchrony of breeding are also presented.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace468
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2010
publishDateRange 2010
publishDateSort 2010
publisher Wiley
publisherStr Wiley
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace4682024-03-05T11:44:56Z Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog Ogutu, Joseph O. Piepho, Hans-Peter Dublin, H.T. Bhola, N. Reid, Robin S. ungulates drought We tested the hypothesis that ungulates time and synchronize births to match gestation and lactation with peak food availability and quality in seasonal environments, using ground counts of topi and warthog conducted over 174 months (July 1989–December 2003) in the Mara–Serengeti ecosystem. During this 15-year period, 2,725 newborn and 45,574 adult female topi and 933 newborn and 7,831 adult warthogs were recorded. Births were distinctly synchronized in both species but far less so than in ungulates in temperate regions. Extreme droughts delayed onset and reduced synchrony of calving and natality rates but high rainfall advanced onset and increased synchrony of calving and natality rates in both species, supporting the seasonality hypothesis. Annual shifts in birth peaks were significantly negatively correlated with the preceding wet season rainfall. Varying the timing and synchrony of births and natality rates are widespread but little understood adaptations of ungulates to climatic extremes. Climate change heightens the need for advancing this understanding because increasing frequency and severity of droughts is likely to decouple phenology of breeding in seasonally breeding ungulates from that in their food plants. Similar studies of African ungulates are either extremely rare or non-existent. New approaches to estimating the time of peak births and its confidence limits and the degree of synchrony of breeding are also presented. 2010-01 2010-01-16T20:40:47Z 2010-01-16T20:40:47Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/468 en Limited Access Wiley Ogutu, J.O.; Piepho, H.-P.; Dublin, H.T.; Bhola, N.; Reid, R.S. 2010. Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog. Population Ecology. v. 52(1). p. 89-102.
spellingShingle ungulates
drought
Ogutu, Joseph O.
Piepho, Hans-Peter
Dublin, H.T.
Bhola, N.
Reid, Robin S.
Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog
title Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog
title_full Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog
title_fullStr Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog
title_full_unstemmed Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog
title_short Rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog
title_sort rainfall extremes explain interannual shifts in timing and synchrony of calving in topi and warthog
topic ungulates
drought
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/468
work_keys_str_mv AT ogutujosepho rainfallextremesexplaininterannualshiftsintimingandsynchronyofcalvingintopiandwarthog
AT piephohanspeter rainfallextremesexplaininterannualshiftsintimingandsynchronyofcalvingintopiandwarthog
AT dublinht rainfallextremesexplaininterannualshiftsintimingandsynchronyofcalvingintopiandwarthog
AT bholan rainfallextremesexplaininterannualshiftsintimingandsynchronyofcalvingintopiandwarthog
AT reidrobins rainfallextremesexplaininterannualshiftsintimingandsynchronyofcalvingintopiandwarthog