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The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) / MONIL KHERA

Swansea University Author: MONIL KHERA

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUThesis.66083

Abstract

Human-induced climate change negatively affects animal reproduction and survival. Understandingvulnerability to climate change requires knowledge on how animals respond to changes in environmental conditions. Here, I used a long-term (>20 years) dataset of climatic, life-history and behavioural d...

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Published: Swansea University, Wales, UK 2024
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Nichols, H.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66083
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spelling v2 66083 2024-04-18 The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) f8e735164e9568efc8cd1f4194d774cf MONIL KHERA MONIL KHERA true false 2024-04-18 Human-induced climate change negatively affects animal reproduction and survival. Understandingvulnerability to climate change requires knowledge on how animals respond to changes in environmental conditions. Here, I used a long-term (>20 years) dataset of climatic, life-history and behavioural data on a wild population of banded mongooses to investigate how environmental change will affect this cooperatively breeding equatorial mammal. Using time series decomposition, I show how reproduction and early-life survival is affected by rainfall and temperature at varying timescales (seasonal, long-term trends, and short-term variation). Births occur year-round, but reproduction is usually timed so that females either conceive or give birth during the wet seasons where food is most plentiful (Chapter 2). Next, I used structural equation modelling to investigate both direct effects of environmental conditions on early-life survival and indirect impacts via changes to cooperative behaviour (Chapter 3). High levels of rainfall boosted helping effort, which in turn increased pup survival, but high temperatures had both direct and indirect negative effects on survival. I found no evidence for a buffering effect of cooperative social groups on harsh environmental conditions, which has been previously suggested for other species. Chapter 4 presents support for high temperatures limiting offspring growth via the heat dissipation limit hypothesis, which predicts that high temperatures limit metabolic expensive processes such as lactation, due to inability to disseminate the additional heat produced. Finally, banded mongooses behaviourally thermoregulate by resting more and foraging less under high temperatures (Chapter 5). However, this is insufficient to mitigate increases in body surface temperatures. Overall, my results suggest that banded mongooses should suffer from rising temperatures with limited or no relief via behavioural adjustments or social buffering. However, predicted increases in rainfall may partially mitigate these impacts, highlighting the challenging complexity in predicting overall effectsof climate change on wild animal populations. E-Thesis Swansea University, Wales, UK Banded mongooses, mungos mungo, Climate change, Reproduction, Behaviour 26 2 2024 2024-02-26 10.23889/SUThesis.66083 A selection of content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis to protect sensitive and personal information. COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Nichols, H. Doctoral Ph.D 2024-04-19T17:19:31.2133222 2024-04-18T15:39:05.9441943 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences MONIL KHERA 1 66083__30063__9bce6ae7e94d43dc913a7460393af974.pdf 2023_Khera_M_final.66083.pdf 2024-04-18T15:54:04.7366174 Output 4904460 application/pdf E-Thesis true Copyright, The author, Monil Khera, 2024. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
title The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo)
spellingShingle The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo)
MONIL KHERA
title_short The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo)
title_full The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo)
title_fullStr The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo)
title_full_unstemmed The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo)
title_sort The effect of climatic variables on the demography and behaviours of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo)
author_id_str_mv f8e735164e9568efc8cd1f4194d774cf
author_id_fullname_str_mv f8e735164e9568efc8cd1f4194d774cf_***_MONIL KHERA
author MONIL KHERA
author2 MONIL KHERA
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUThesis.66083
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Human-induced climate change negatively affects animal reproduction and survival. Understandingvulnerability to climate change requires knowledge on how animals respond to changes in environmental conditions. Here, I used a long-term (>20 years) dataset of climatic, life-history and behavioural data on a wild population of banded mongooses to investigate how environmental change will affect this cooperatively breeding equatorial mammal. Using time series decomposition, I show how reproduction and early-life survival is affected by rainfall and temperature at varying timescales (seasonal, long-term trends, and short-term variation). Births occur year-round, but reproduction is usually timed so that females either conceive or give birth during the wet seasons where food is most plentiful (Chapter 2). Next, I used structural equation modelling to investigate both direct effects of environmental conditions on early-life survival and indirect impacts via changes to cooperative behaviour (Chapter 3). High levels of rainfall boosted helping effort, which in turn increased pup survival, but high temperatures had both direct and indirect negative effects on survival. I found no evidence for a buffering effect of cooperative social groups on harsh environmental conditions, which has been previously suggested for other species. Chapter 4 presents support for high temperatures limiting offspring growth via the heat dissipation limit hypothesis, which predicts that high temperatures limit metabolic expensive processes such as lactation, due to inability to disseminate the additional heat produced. Finally, banded mongooses behaviourally thermoregulate by resting more and foraging less under high temperatures (Chapter 5). However, this is insufficient to mitigate increases in body surface temperatures. Overall, my results suggest that banded mongooses should suffer from rising temperatures with limited or no relief via behavioural adjustments or social buffering. However, predicted increases in rainfall may partially mitigate these impacts, highlighting the challenging complexity in predicting overall effectsof climate change on wild animal populations.
published_date 2024-02-26T17:19:26Z
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score 11.035349

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