It is time to mate: population-level plasticity of wild boar reproductive timing and synchrony in a changing environment  

作　　者：Rudy Brogi Enrico Merli Stefano Grignolio Roberta Chirichella Elisa Bottero Marco Apollonio 

机构地区：[1]Department of Veterinary Medicine,University of Sassari,via Vienna 2,Sassari I-07100,Italy

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2022年第4期371-380,共10页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：The Provincial Administration of Arezzo and the Italian Ministry of Education,University and Research(PRIN 2010-2011,20108 TZKHC)financially and logistically supported the research.S.G.was supported by the FAR 2020 of the University of Sassari.

摘　　要：On a population level,individual plasticity in reproductive phenology can provoke either anticipations or delays in the average reproductive timing in response to environmental changes.However,a rigid reliance on photoperiodism can constraint such plastic responses in populations inhabiting temperate latitudes.The regulation of breeding season length may represent a further tool for populations facing changing environments.Nonetheless,this skill was reported only for equatorial,nonphotoperiodic populations.Our goal was to evaluate whether species living in temperate regions and relying on photoperiodism to trigger their reproduction may also be able to regulate breeding season length.During 10 years,we collected 2,500 female reproductive traits of a mammal model species(wild boar Sus scrofa)and applied a novel analytical approach to reproductive patterns in order to observe population-level variations of reproductive timing and synchrony under different weather and resources availability conditions.Under favorable conditions,breeding seasons were anticipated and population synchrony increased(i.e.,shorter breeding seasons).Conversely,poor conditions induced delayed and less synchronous(i.e.,longer)breeding seasons.The potential to regulate breeding season length depending on environmental conditions may entail a high resilience of the population reproductive patterns against environmental changes,as highlighted by the fact that almost all mature females were reproductive every year.

关 键 词：breeding season length PHENOLOGY PHOTOPERIODISM population ecology REPRODUCTION wild boar 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]