Are raccoons limited by the availability of breeding resources? Evidence of variability in fecundity at fine spatial scales
Are raccoons limited by the availability of breeding resources? Evidence of variability in fecundity at fine spatial scales
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DOI：
10.1002/jwmg.423
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发表时间：
2012-11-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Rhodes, Olin E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Beasley, James C.;Rhodes, Olin E.
尽管他们的行为可塑性，最近的研究表明，浣熊（Procyon lotor）表现出人口统计和遗传结构的变异，在景观中的个人栖息地补丁严重影响人为土地利用。因此，需要在精细的空间尺度上阐明生命率，以实施适当的管理策略，这一物种。为了评估个体栖息地斑块之间存在的生产力的变异程度，我们收集了生殖（n =？170)和牙骨质环年龄数据（n = 10）。383)浣熊占据了30个森林斑块，在高度分散的农业生态系统中，地方和栖息地级别的栖息地属性各不相同。在所有女性样本中，怀孕率平均为85%，但年龄差异很大（范围：47100%）。平均产仔数范围从3.2到4.7，但没有作为年龄的函数不同。在栖息地水平，我们观察到显着的变异性栖息地补丁的后代总数（范围：080），表明个别补丁不同的整体规模和稳定性的全球（栖息地水平）人口的贡献。栖息地补丁之间的生产力的变化主要是由当地的差异，在可利用的denning资源，可能是因为这个变量的影响，在数量，年龄结构和繁殖率的女性。我们的研究结果表明，在农业生态系统中，繁殖潜力和时间稳定性的浣熊在个人的栖息地片段是密不可分的树腔的密度。(c)2012野生动物协会。
Despite their behavioral plasticity, recent research suggests raccoons (Procyon lotor) exhibit variability in demography and genetic structure among individual habitat patches in landscapes heavily affected by anthropogenic land use. Consequently, elucidation of vital rates at fine-spatial scales is needed to implement appropriate management strategies for this species. To evaluate the degree of variability in productivity that exists among individual habitat patches, we collected reproductive (n?=?170) and cementum annuli age data (n?=?383) for raccoons occupying 30 forest patches varying in local and landscape-level habitat attributes within a highly fragmented agricultural ecosystem. Across all females sampled, pregnancy rates averaged 85% but were highly variable among ages (range: 47100%). Average litter sizes ranged from 3.2 to 4.7, but did not differ as a function of age. At the landscape-level, we observed significant variability among habitat patches in the total number of offspring produced (range: 080), indicating that individual patches vary in their contribution to the overall size and stability of the global (landscape-level) population. Variability in productivity among habitat patches primarily was driven by local differences in the availability of denning resources, likely because of the influence of this variable on variability in the number, age structure, and reproductive rate of females. Our results suggest that in agricultural ecosystems, the reproductive potential and temporal stability of raccoons within individual habitat fragments is inextricably linked to the density of tree cavities. (c) 2012 The Wildlife Society.