Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)

In order to evaluate potential reproductive costs associated with parasitism, we experimentally removed ectoparasites from reproductive female North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Body mass and overwinter survival of mothers, days to juvenile emergence, juvenile survival from birt...

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Main Authors:	Patterson, Jesse E. H., Neuhaus, Peter, Kutz, Susan J., Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2013
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3568097/

id	pubmed-3568097
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-35680972013-02-13 Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) Patterson, Jesse E. H. Neuhaus, Peter Kutz, Susan J. Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E. Research Article In order to evaluate potential reproductive costs associated with parasitism, we experimentally removed ectoparasites from reproductive female North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Body mass and overwinter survival of mothers, days to juvenile emergence, juvenile survival from birth to emergence, and body mass of juveniles at emergence were all compared to those of untreated (control) animals. Ectoparasite removal did not affect the body mass of mothers throughout the lactation period and overwinter survival of mothers did not differ between treatments and controls. Likewise, there was no effect of treatment on the number of days to juvenile emergence. However, treated mothers raised offspring that were significantly heavier (11%) than controls at emergence. Juveniles from treated mothers were also 24% more likely to survive from birth to emergence. Our results indicate that ectoparasites impose costs on the reproductive success of female red squirrels and that ectoparasites have the potential to influence red squirrel life-histories and population dynamics. Public Library of Science 2013-02-08 /pmc/articles/PMC3568097/ /pubmed/23409041 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055779 Text en © 2013 Patterson et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Patterson, Jesse E. H. Neuhaus, Peter Kutz, Susan J. Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E.
spellingShingle	Patterson, Jesse E. H. Neuhaus, Peter Kutz, Susan J. Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E. Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
author_facet	Patterson, Jesse E. H. Neuhaus, Peter Kutz, Susan J. Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E.
author_sort	Patterson, Jesse E. H.
title	Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
title_short	Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
title_full	Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
title_fullStr	Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
title_full_unstemmed	Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
title_sort	parasite removal improves reproductive success of female north american red squirrels (tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
description	In order to evaluate potential reproductive costs associated with parasitism, we experimentally removed ectoparasites from reproductive female North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Body mass and overwinter survival of mothers, days to juvenile emergence, juvenile survival from birth to emergence, and body mass of juveniles at emergence were all compared to those of untreated (control) animals. Ectoparasite removal did not affect the body mass of mothers throughout the lactation period and overwinter survival of mothers did not differ between treatments and controls. Likewise, there was no effect of treatment on the number of days to juvenile emergence. However, treated mothers raised offspring that were significantly heavier (11%) than controls at emergence. Juveniles from treated mothers were also 24% more likely to survive from birth to emergence. Our results indicate that ectoparasites impose costs on the reproductive success of female red squirrels and that ectoparasites have the potential to influence red squirrel life-histories and population dynamics.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2013
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3568097/
_version_	1611953617914298368

Parasite Removal Improves Reproductive Success of Female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)

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