After short interbirth intervals, captive callitrichine monkeys have higher infant mortality

Brett M Frye; Dakota E McCoy; Jennifer Kotler; Amanda Embury; Judith M Burkart; Monika Burns; Simon Eyre; Peter Galbusera; Jacqui Hooper; Arun Idoe; Agustín López Goya; Jennifer Mickelberg; Marcos Peromingo Quesada; Miranda Stevenson; Sara Sullivan; Mark Warneke; Sheila Wojciechowski; Dominic Wormell; David Haig; Suzette D Tardif

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.103724

After short interbirth intervals, captive callitrichine monkeys have higher infant mortality

iScience. 2022 Jan 1;25(1):103724. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103724. eCollection 2022 Jan 21.

Authors

Brett M Frye¹, Dakota E McCoy^{2

3}, Jennifer Kotler^{2

4}, Amanda Embury⁵, Judith M Burkart⁶, Monika Burns⁷, Simon Eyre⁸, Peter Galbusera⁹, Jacqui Hooper⁸, Arun Idoe¹⁰, Agustín López Goya¹¹, Jennifer Mickelberg¹², Marcos Peromingo Quesada¹¹, Miranda Stevenson¹³, Sara Sullivan¹⁴, Mark Warneke¹⁴, Sheila Wojciechowski¹⁴, Dominic Wormell¹⁵, David Haig², Suzette D Tardif¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA 24327, USA.
² Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁵ Department of Wildlife Conservation and Science, Zoos Victoria, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
⁶ Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
⁷ Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁸ Wellington Zoo, Newtown, Wellington 6021, New Zealand.
⁹ Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp (RZSA), Antwerp, Belgium.
¹⁰ Apenheul Primate Park, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
¹¹ Faunia-ParquesReunidos, Madrid, Spain.
¹² Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA 30315, USA.
¹³ Bristol Zoo Gardens, Bristol, UK.
¹⁴ Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfield, IL 60513, USA.
¹⁵ Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Jersey, Channel Islands, UK.
¹⁶ Southwest National Primate Research Center, San Antonio, TX 78245, USA.

Abstract

Life history theory predicts a trade-off between the quantity and quality of offspring. Short interbirth intervals-the time between successive births-may increase the quantity of offspring but harm offspring quality. In contrast, long interbirth intervals may bolster offspring quality while reducing overall reproductive output. Further research is needed to determine whether this relationship holds among primates, which have intensive parental investment. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we examined the effects of interbirth intervals (short, normal, or long) on infant survivorship using a large demographic dataset (n = 15,852) of captive callitrichine monkeys (marmosets, tamarins, and lion tamarins). In seven of the nine species studied, infants born after short interbirth intervals had significantly higher risks of mortality than infants born after longer interbirth intervals. These results suggest that reproduction in callitrichine primates may be limited by physiologic constraints, such that short birth spacing drives higher infant mortality.

Keywords: Animal physiology; Animals; Biological sciences; Zoology.

Grants and funding

P51 OD011133/OD/NIH HHS/United States