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Life-history traits of voles in a fluctuating population respond to the immediate environment

Nature volume 411, pages 1043–1045 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Life-history traits relating to growth and reproduction vary greatly among species and populations1,2 and among individuals within populations3. In vole populations, body size and age at maturation may vary considerably among locations and among years within the same location4,5,6,7,8. Individuals in increasing populations are typically larger and start reproduction earlier in the spring than those in declining populations6,7,8. The cause of such life-history variation within populations has been subject of much discussion7,9,10. Much of the controversy concerns whether the memory of past conditions, leading to delayed effects on life-history traits, resides in the environment (for example, predators11,12, pathogens13 or food14,15) or intrinsically within populations or individuals (age distribution16,17, physiological state3, genetic18 or maternal effects19,20). Here we report from an extensive field transplant experiment in which voles were moved before the breeding season between sites that differed in average overwintering body mass. Transplanted voles did not retain the characteristics of their source population, and we demonstrate an over-riding role of the immediate environment in shaping life-history traits of small rodents.

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Figure 1: Design of the study.
Figure 2: Average (±s.e.) individual change in body mass of transplanted voles recaptured in January/February during the first session after transplanting plotted against difference in average body mass at the sites.
Figure 3: Average body mass (±2s.e.) over the spring after the transplant.
Figure 4: Onset of spring reproduction measured as proportions of perforate and lactating females (top and middle panels) and proportion of males with scrotal testes (bottom panel).

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Acknowledgements

The project was funded by grants from the Norwegian Research Council to T.E. and by the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) to X.L. We thank the Forestry Commission for support; C. Griffin and J. Aars for assistance during the transplant; and R. Boonstra, L. Crespin, K. E. Hodges, R. A. Ims, R. Julliard, T. Klemola, P. Thompson, E. Tkadlec, H. Viljugrein and N. G. Yoccoz for constructive comments and advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Zoology, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, PO Box 1050, Blindern, Oslo, 0316, Norway

    Torbjørn Ergon & Nils Chr. Stenseth

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK

    Xavier Lambin

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  1. Torbjørn Ergon
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  2. Xavier Lambin
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  3. Nils Chr. Stenseth
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Correspondence to Nils Chr. Stenseth.

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Ergon, T., Lambin, X. & Stenseth, N. Life-history traits of voles in a fluctuating population respond to the immediate environment. Nature 411, 1043–1045 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35082553

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