TY  - JOUR
A1  - Eccard, Jana
A1  - Roedel, Heiko G.
T1  - Optimizing temperament through litter size in short-lived, iteroparous mammals in seasonal environments
T2  - Developmental psychobiology : the journal of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology
N2  - A number of short-lived, iteroparous animal species have small broods in the early breeding season and larger broods in later breeding season. Brood size affects not only offspring size, but as recent results suggest, may also affect offspring's temperament, hormonal status, and aggression as adults. Most populations of short-lived, iteroparous mammals fluctuate predictably over the season, with low densities in winter, increasing densities in summer and a population peak in late summer followed by a population breakdown. If animals live only through parts of the season, possibly such differences in density and hence also in social environments among seasons require different personality types to increase individual fitness. We present data on behavior of European rabbits from a field enclosure study. These data clearly show that aggressiveness is higher in young from smaller litters than in young from larger litters, and smaller litters are usually born during the early breeding season. Moreover, our data suggest that behavioral types of the young rabbits are stable over time, at least during their subadult life. We suggest, that changes in mean litter size over the course of the breeding season may not only be a product of mothers' age or food availability, but may also have an adaptive function by preparing offspring characteristics for adulthood in a social environment undergoing predictable density changes within the season.
KW  - animal personality
KW  - competitive performance
KW  - European rabbit
KW  - Oryctolagus cuniculus
Y1  - 2011
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/36655
SN  - 0012-1630
VL  - 53
IS  - 6
SP  - 585
EP  - 591
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Malden
ER  -