Presentation Details
| Early life adversity leads to delayed age at first birth in bottlenose dolphins Vivienne Foroughirad1, Molly McEntee2, Meredith MacQueeney3, Janet Mann3. 1Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA.2University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.3Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA |
Abstract
Early life adversity can have cascading effects into adulthood including life history modifications such as delayed reproductive debut. In 2011, Shark Bay, Western Australia experienced an extreme marine heatwave which resulted in significant habitat loss and reduced fitness among the resident dolphin population. We leveraged long-term observations of adult females (N = 108) over 39 years to investigate changes in age at first observed birth associated with this chronic early life stressor. The maternal age range for all first observed births was 9.2 - 20.0 years, and females who reached the minimum age of sexual maturity after the heatwave were observed to give birth to their first calves 1.5 years later on average than those who reached maturation prior. Variation in age at first birth also increased after the disturbance. As some females were never successfully observed to give birth, we also examined the probability of a female giving birth by the median age of 13 years, which decreased significantly from 45.9 % to 23.3 % following the heatwave. These results provide support for the importance of early-life ecological adversity in predicting long-term population dynamics.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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