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Uinta Ground Squirrel Demography: Is Body Mass a Better Categorical Variable Than Age?
Sauer, John R. Slade, Norman A.
Sauer, John R.
Slade, Norman A.
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Abstract
We compared the relative impact of age and body mass on fecundity and survival in a population of Uinta ground squirrels, and modeled the population using bodymass classes as stage categories in Lefkovitch stage transition matrices. Body mass was a better predictor of survival than was age, and was nearly as good a predictor of litter size. Mass-based stage transition matrices provided results similar to age-based transition matrices, but also indicated that larger and subsequently more fecund young were a consequence of a population reduction. We believe that mass-based analysis of ground squirrel populations is a viable alternative to traditional age-based analyses. Body mass is easy to measure in small-mammal populations and is linked to a variety of life-history characteristics.
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Date
1987-06-01
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Ecological Society of America
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Slade_1987.pdf
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Keywords
Body mass, Demography, Ground squirrels, Population ecology, Spermophilus
Citation
Sauer, John R.; Slade, Norman A. (1987). "Uinta Ground Squirrel Demography: Is Body Mass a Better Categorical Variable Than Age?" Ecology, 68(3):642-650. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1938469.