The role of phenotypic plasticity in responses of hunted thinhorn sheep ram horn growth to changing climate conditions

被引：30

作者：

Loehr, J. ^{[1
]}

Carey, J. ^{[2
]}

O'Hara, R. B. ^{[3
]}

Hik, D. S. ^{[4
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Helsinki, Dept Biol & Environm Sci, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland

[2] Yukon Dept Environm, Whitehorse, YT, Canada

[3] Univ Helsinki, Dept Math & Stat, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland

[4] Univ Alberta, Dept Biol Sci, Edmonton, AB, Canada

来源：

JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY | 2010年 / 23卷 / 04期

基金：

芬兰科学院;

关键词：

climate change; horn; hunting; Ovis dalli; phenotypic plasticity; GENETIC RESPONSES; BIGHORN SHEEP; OVIS-DALLI; POPULATION; EVOLUTION; SELECTION; OSCILLATION; VARIABILITY; MATURATION; SURVIVAL;

D O I：

10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.01948.x

中图分类号：

Q14 [生态学（生物生态学）];

学科分类号：

071012 ; 0713 ;

摘要：

When phenotypic change occurs over time in wildlife populations, it can be difficult to determine to what degree it is because of genetic effects or phenotypic plasticity. Here, we assess phenotypic changes over time in horn length and volume of thinhorn sheep (Ovis dalli) rams from Yukon Territory, Canada. We considered 42 years of horn growth from over 50 000 growth measurements in over 8000 individuals. We found that weather explained a large proportion of the annual fluctuation in horn growth, being particularly sensitive to spring weather. Only 2.5% of variance in horn length growth could be explained by an individual effect, and thus any genetic changes over the time period could only have had a small effect on phenotypes. Our findings allow insight into the capacity for horn morphology to react to selection pressures and demonstrate the overall importance of climate in determining growth.

引用

页码：783 / 790

页数：8