• This record comes from PubMed

European springtime temperature synchronises ibex horn growth across the eastern Swiss Alps

. 2014 Mar ; 17 (3) : 303-13. [epub] 20131216

Language English Country England, Great Britain Media print-electronic

Document type Letter, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Direct effects of climate change on animal physiology, and indirect impacts from disruption of seasonal synchrony and breakdown of trophic interactions are particularly severe in Arctic and Alpine ecosystems. Unravelling biotic from abiotic drivers, however, remains challenging because high-resolution animal population data are often limited in space and time. Here, we show that variation in annual horn growth (an indirect proxy for individual performance) of 8043 male Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) over the past four decades is well synchronised among eight disjunct colonies in the eastern Swiss Alps. Elevated March to May temperatures, causing premature melting of Alpine snowcover, earlier plant phenology and subsequent improvement of ibex food resources, fuelled annual horn growth. These results reveal dependency of local trophic interactions on large-scale climate dynamics, and provide evidence that declining herbivore performance is not a universal response to global warming even for high-altitude populations that are also harvested.

See more in PubMed

Barbosa ICR, Köhler IH, Auerwald K, Lüps P. Schneider H. Last-century changes of alpine grassland water-use efficiency: a reconstruction through carbon isotope analysis of a time-series of Capra ibex horns. Glob. Change Biol. 2010;16:1171–1180.

Bergeron P, Festa-Bianchet M, von Hardenberg A. Bassano B. Heterogeneity in male horn growth and longevity in a highly sexually dimorphic ungulate. Oikos. 2008;117:77–82.

Bergeron P, Grignolio S, Apollonio M, Shipley B. Festa-Bianchet M. Secondary sexual characters signal fighting ability and determine social rank in Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 2010;64:1299–1307.

Biebach I. Keller LF. A strong genetic footprint of the re-introduction history of Alpine ibex (Capra ibex ibex) Molecular Ecol. 2009;18:5046–5058. PubMed

Biebach I. Keller LF. Genetic variation depends more on admixture than number of founders in reintroduced Alpine ibex populations. Biol. Conserv. 2012;147:197–203.

Both C, Bouwhuis S, Lessells CM. Visser ME. Climate change and population declines in a long-distance migratory bird. Nature. 2006;441:81–83. PubMed

Buchli C. Abderhalden W. Untersuchungen zur Konstitution von Steinböcken anhand von Hornmaßen. Z. Jagdwiss. 1998;44:244–250.

Büntgen U, Frank DC, Wilson R, Career M, Urbinati C. Esper J. Testing for tree-ring divergence in the European Alps. Glob. Change Biol. 2008;14:2443–2453.

Büntgen U, Tegel W, Nicolussi K, McCormick M, Frank D, Trouet V, et al. 2500 years of European climate variability and human susceptibility. Science. 2011;331:578–582. PubMed

Coltman DW, O'Donoghue P, Jorgenson JT, Hogg JT, Strobeck C. Festa-Bianchet M. Undesirable evolutionary consequences of trophy hunting. Nature. 2003;426:655–658. PubMed

Festa-Bianchet M, Coltman DW, Turelli L. Jorgenson JT. Relative allocation to horn and body growth in bighorn rams varies with resource availability. Behav. Ecol. 2004;15:305–312.

Fordham DA, Akcakaya HR, Brook BW, Rodríguez A, Alves PC, Civantos E, et al. Adapted conservation measures are required to save the Iberian lynx in a changing climate. Nature Clim. Change. 2013;3:899–903.

Gardner JL, Peters A, Kearney MR, Joseph L. Heinsohn R. Declining body size: a third universal response to warming? Trends Ecol. Evo. 2011;26:285–291. PubMed

Garel M, Gaillard JM, Chevrier T, Michallet J, Delorme D. van Laere G. Testing reliability of body size measurements using hind foot length in roe deer. J. Wildlife Manage. 2010;74:1382–1386.

Giacometti M, Willing R. Defila C. Ambient temperature in spring affects horn growth in male Alpine ibexes. J. Mammalogy. 2002;83:245–251.

Grøtan V, Sæther B-E, Filli F. Engen S. Effects of climate on population fluctuations of ibex. Glob. Change Biol. 2008;14:218–228.

Hansen BB, Grøtan V, Aanes R, Sæther B-E, Stein A, Fuglei E, et al. Climate events synchronize the dynamics of a resident vertebrate community in the high Arctic. Science. 2013;339:313–315. PubMed

von Hardenberg A, Bassano B, Festa-Bianchet M, Luikart G, Lanfranchi P. Coltman D. Age-dependent genetic effects on a secondary sexual trait in male Alpine ibex, Capra ibex. Mol. Ecol. 2007;16:1969–1980. PubMed

Hengeveld PE. Festa-Bianchet M. Harvest regulations and artificial selection on horn size in male bighorn sheep. J. Wildlife Manage. 2011;75:189–197.

Hoffmann AA. Sgrò CM. Climate Change and evolutionary adaptation. Nature. 2011;470:479–485. PubMed

Ims RA, Henden J-A. Killengreen ST. Collapsing population cycles. Trends Ecol. Evo. 2008;23:79–86. PubMed

Johnston SE, Gratten J, Berenos C, Pilkington JG, Clutton-Brock TH, Pemberton JM, et al. Life history trade-offs at a single locus maintain sexually selected genetic variation. Nature. 2013;502:93–95. PubMed

Jones PD, Josson T. Wheeler D. Extension to the North Atlantic Oscillation using early instrumental pressure observations from Gibraltar and South-West Iceland. Int. J. Climatol. 1997;17:1433–1450.

Kausrud KL, Mysterud A, Steen H, Vik JO, Østbye E, Cazelles B, et al. Linking climate change to lemming cycles. Nature. 2008;456:93–98. PubMed

Largo E, Gaillard J-M, Festa-Bianchet M, Toïgo C, Bassano B, Cortot H, et al. Can ground counts reliably monitor ibex Capra ibex populations? Wildl. Biol. 2008;14:489–499.

Liebhold AM, Koenig WD. Bjørnstad ON. Spatial synchrony in population dynamics. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Evo. Systematics. 2004;35:467–490.

Loison A, Jullien JM. Menaut P. Relationship between chamois and isard survival and variation in global and local climate regimes: contrasting examples from the Alps and Pyrenees. Ecol. Bulle. 1999;47:126–136.

Martin JGA, Festa-Bianchet M, Cote SD. Blumstein DT. Detecting between-individual differences in hind-foot length in populations of wild mammals. Can. J. Zool. Rev. 2013;91:118–123.

Martínez-Jauregui M, San Miguel-Ayanz A, Mysterud A, Rodríguez-Vigal C, Clutton-Brock T, Langvatn R, et al. Are local weather, NDVI or NAO consistent determinants of female red deer weight across three contrasting European countries? Glob. Change Biol. 2009;15:1727–1738.

Monteith KL, Long RA, Bleich VC, Heffelfinger JR, Krausman PR. Bowyer RT. Effects of harvest, culture, and climate on trends in size of horn-like structures in trophy ungulates. Wildlife Mono. 2013;183:1–26.

Mysterud A, Tryjanowski P, Panek M, Pettorelli N. Stenseth NC. Inter-specific synchrony of two contrasting ungulates: wild boar (Sus scrofa) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) Oecologia. 2007;151:232–239. PubMed

Ozgul A, Childs DZ, Oli MK, Armitage KB, Blumstein DT, Olson LE, et al. Coupled dynamics of body mass and population growth in response to environmental change. Nature. 2010;466:482–485. PubMed PMC

Parmesan C. Yohe G. A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. Nature. 2003;421:37–42. PubMed

Pauli H, Gottfried M, Dullinger S, Abdaladze O, Akhalkatsi M, Alonso JLB, et al. Recent plant diversity changes on Europe's mountain summits. Science. 2012;336:353–355. PubMed

Pérez JM, Serrano E, Gonzalez-Candela M, Leon-Vizcaino L, Barbera GG, de Simon MA, et al. Reduced horn size in two wild trophy-hunted species of Caprinae. Wildl. Biol. 2011;17:102–112.

Pettorelli N, Mysterud A, Yoccoz NG, Langvatn R. Stenseth NC. Importance of climatological downscaling and plant phenology for red deer in heterogeneous landscapes. Proc. R. Soc. B. 2005;272:2357–2364. PubMed PMC

Pettorelli N, Pelletier F, Von Hardenberg A, Festa-Bianchet M. Côté SD. Early onset of vegetation growth VS rapid green-up: impacts on juvenile mountain ungulates. Ecology. 2007;88:381–390. PubMed

Post E, Pedersen C, Wilmers CC. Forchhammer MC. Warming, plant phenology and the spatial dimension of trophic mismatch for large herbivores. Proc. R. Soc. B. 2008;275:2005–2013. PubMed PMC

Post E, Forchhammer MC, Bret-Harte MS, Callaghan TV, Christensen TR, Elberling B, et al. Ecological dynamics across the Arctic associated with recent climate change. Science. 2009;325:1355–1358. PubMed

Ratti P. Zur Hege des Steinwildes im Kanton Graubünden. Z. Jagdwiss. 1981;27:41–57.

Ratti P. Stand von Hege und Erforschung des Steinwildes im Kanton Graubunden (Schweiz) Z. Jagdwiss. 1994;40:223–231.

Robinson MR, Pilkington JG, Clutton-Brock TH, Pemberton JM. Kruuk LEB. Live fast, die young: trade-offs between fitness components and sexually antagonistic selection on weaponry in soay sheep. Evolution. 2006;60:2168–2181. PubMed

Rughetti M. Festa-Bianchet M. Effects of spring–summer temperature on body mass of chamois. J. Mammalogy. 2012;93:1301–1307.

Sæther B-E, Lillegard M, Grøtan V, Filli F. Engen S. Predicting fluctuations of reintroduced ibex populations: the importance of density dependence, environmental stochasticity and uncertain population estimates. J. Animal Ecol. 2007;76:326–336. PubMed

Stien A, Ims RA, Albon SD, Fuglei E, Irvine RJ, Ropstad E, et al. Congruent responses to weather variability in high arctic herbivores. Biol. Lett. 2012;8:1002–1005. PubMed PMC

Tafani M, Cohas A, Bonenfant C, Gaillard JM. Allainé D. Decreasing litter size of marmots over time: a life history response to climate change? Ecology. 2013;94:580–586. PubMed

Thomas CD, Cameron A, Green RE, Bakkenes M, Beaumont LJ, Collingham YC, et al. Extinction risk from climate change. Nature. 2004;427:145–148. PubMed

Toïgo C, Gaillard J-M, Festa-Bianchet M, Largo É, Michallet J. Maillard D. Sex- and age-specific survival of the highly dimorphic Alpine ibex: evidence for a conservative life-history tactic. J. Animal Ecol. 2007;76:679–686. PubMed

Willisch CS, Biebach I, Koller U, Bucher T, Marreros N, Ryser-Degiorgis M-P, et al. Male reproductive pattern in a polygynous ungulate with a slow life-history: the role of age, social status and alternative mating tactics. Evol. Ecol. 2012;26:187–206.

Willisch CS, Bieri K, Struch M, Franceschina R, Schnidrig-Petrig R. Ingold P. Climate effects on demographic parameters in an unhunted population of Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) J. Mammalogy. 2013;94:173–182.

Find record

Citation metrics

Loading data ...

Archiving options

Loading data ...