🐿️How squirrels compete for mating rights ? скачать в хорошем качестве

🐿️How squirrels compete for mating rights ?

Male thirteen-lined ground squirrels ( Spermophilus tridecemlineatus) experience three types of intrasexual competition: ● Competition for the location of spatially scattered females. ● Overt conflict over access to those females. ● Sperm competition. The likelihood of overt conflict and sperm competition varies between seasons. The authors investigated the impact of changes in male density, female density, and breeding synchrony on the variability of conflict and sperm competition. The study involved: ● Artificially reducing male density mid-way through one mating season. ● Comparing observations across multiple mating seasons. The results indicate that: ● Fluctuations of male density have little effect on levels of overt conflict and sperm competition.1 ● Female density and/or breeding synchrony strongly influence overt conflict and sperm competition.1 ○ When female density is low, overt conflict and multiple mating by females are more common.2 ○ Males are more likely to engage in conflict over females when there are no other females in estrus.3 ○ The number of males mating with each female increases when the number of available females decreases.4 The study concludes that: ● The intensity of intrasexual competition is not always equally affected by changes in male density, female density, and breeding synchrony.2 ● The operational sex ratio (OSR) may not always be a reliable predictor of intrasexual competition because it combines variables that may have different effects on reproductive competition.5 The findings of this study suggest that female density and breeding synchrony are more important factors than male density in determining the intensity of mating competition in thirteen-lined ground squirrels. #squirrel #wildlife #animals #squirrellove #podcast #knowledge