Duration of snow cover and its influence on life-history variation in yellow -bellied marmots
نویسندگان
چکیده
VAN VUREN, D., and ARMITAGE, K. B. 1991. Duration of snow cover and its influence on life-history variation in yellow-bellied marmots. Can. J. Zool. 69: 1755-1758. We evaluated the relationship between growing-season phenology, as indicated by time of snow melt, and intrapopulation variation in reproduction and growth of yellow-bellied marmots. The time of snow melt explained significant proportions of the variation in frequency of reproduction (78%), litter size (79%), and estimated body mass of young of the year (68%), but not growth rate. We suggest that the duration of snow cover, through its effect on the length of the growing season, influences habitat quality; marmots living at localities with prolonged snow cover have a shorter season of access to food. The variation in lifehistory traits is attributed to phenotypic plasticity and not to local genetic variation.
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تاریخ انتشار 2007