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Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection / JACK MCCORMACK

Swansea University Author: JACK MCCORMACK

Abstract

Contrary to life history theory suggesting individuals should reproduce until death, females of a small number of mammal species are known to live for a significant period after they cease reproduction. It is thought that this trait is facilitated by either female-biased dispersal or bisexual philop...

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Published: Swansea 2022
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Master of Research
Degree name: MRes
Supervisor: Nichols, Hazel ; Arbuckle, Kevin
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59739
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first_indexed 2022-03-29T15:44:13Z
last_indexed 2022-03-30T03:27:46Z
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spelling 2022-03-29T16:52:03.6023635 v2 59739 2022-03-29 Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection a1311ffb2da2d604ff6a61f7c18e5296 JACK MCCORMACK JACK MCCORMACK true false 2022-03-29 Contrary to life history theory suggesting individuals should reproduce until death, females of a small number of mammal species are known to live for a significant period after they cease reproduction. It is thought that this trait is facilitated by either female-biased dispersal or bisexual philopatry, leading to increased local relatedness throughout a female’s lifetime, allowing greater inclusive fitness to be gained through kin selection. Currently, 3 non-exclusive hypotheses attempt to explain how females might gain this fitness: females halt reproduction to maximise investment in existing offspring (mother effects), females halt reproduction to aid in raising grandoffspring (grandmother effects) and females halt reproduction to minimise intergenerational reproductive competition with sexually mature daughters (reproductive conflict). Despite having similar relatedness and dispersal patterns to species possessing a post-reproductive lifespan, female long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) do not halt reproduction significantly prior to death. This study investigates whether a lack of post-reproductive lifespan in long-finned pilot whales results from minimal benefits incurred from mother and grandmother presence or from a lack of costs incurred from mother-daughter co-reproduction. Using microsatellite data to conduct parentage analysis on a dataset collected at a legal drive fishery in the Faroe Islands between 1986-1988, I show that the size and pregnancy status of individuals is not influenced by mother effects or grandmother effects. Results show that individuals under 20 were more likely to have philopatric offspring assigned if their mother was present, indicating mothers may assist inexperienced daughters in raising offspring. No evidence of reproductive conflict between consecutive generations was found, indicating females are able to reproduce into old age whilst simultaneously aiding their daughters in reproduction. This highlights the importance of reproductive conflict in the evolution of a post-reproductive lifespan and demonstrates mother and grandmother effects alone do not predispose the decoupling of reproductive and somatic senescence. E-Thesis Swansea Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection 24 3 2022 2022-03-24 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Nichols, Hazel ; Arbuckle, Kevin Master of Research MRes 2022-03-29T16:52:03.6023635 2022-03-29T16:41:49.3048805 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences JACK MCCORMACK 1 59739__23730__c811d8b3d92f454b9f531ca5a7435b79.pdf McCormack_Jack_MRes_Thesis_Final_Redacted_Signature.pdf 2022-03-29T16:50:19.9899470 Output 1014072 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The author, Jack McCormack, 2022. true eng
title Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection
spellingShingle Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection
JACK MCCORMACK
title_short Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection
title_full Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection
title_fullStr Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection
title_full_unstemmed Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection
title_sort Post-reproductive lifespan, grandmother effect, mother effect, reproductive conflict, inclusive fitness, kin selection
author_id_str_mv a1311ffb2da2d604ff6a61f7c18e5296
author_id_fullname_str_mv a1311ffb2da2d604ff6a61f7c18e5296_***_JACK MCCORMACK
author JACK MCCORMACK
author2 JACK MCCORMACK
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publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
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description Contrary to life history theory suggesting individuals should reproduce until death, females of a small number of mammal species are known to live for a significant period after they cease reproduction. It is thought that this trait is facilitated by either female-biased dispersal or bisexual philopatry, leading to increased local relatedness throughout a female’s lifetime, allowing greater inclusive fitness to be gained through kin selection. Currently, 3 non-exclusive hypotheses attempt to explain how females might gain this fitness: females halt reproduction to maximise investment in existing offspring (mother effects), females halt reproduction to aid in raising grandoffspring (grandmother effects) and females halt reproduction to minimise intergenerational reproductive competition with sexually mature daughters (reproductive conflict). Despite having similar relatedness and dispersal patterns to species possessing a post-reproductive lifespan, female long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) do not halt reproduction significantly prior to death. This study investigates whether a lack of post-reproductive lifespan in long-finned pilot whales results from minimal benefits incurred from mother and grandmother presence or from a lack of costs incurred from mother-daughter co-reproduction. Using microsatellite data to conduct parentage analysis on a dataset collected at a legal drive fishery in the Faroe Islands between 1986-1988, I show that the size and pregnancy status of individuals is not influenced by mother effects or grandmother effects. Results show that individuals under 20 were more likely to have philopatric offspring assigned if their mother was present, indicating mothers may assist inexperienced daughters in raising offspring. No evidence of reproductive conflict between consecutive generations was found, indicating females are able to reproduce into old age whilst simultaneously aiding their daughters in reproduction. This highlights the importance of reproductive conflict in the evolution of a post-reproductive lifespan and demonstrates mother and grandmother effects alone do not predispose the decoupling of reproductive and somatic senescence.
published_date 2022-03-24T04:17:16Z
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score 11.013148