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The Quintessential NaturalistHonoring the Life and Legacy of Oliver P. Pearson$
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The Quintessential Naturalist: Honoring the Life and Legacy of Oliver P. Pearson

Douglas Kelt and Deborah Kaspin

Print publication date: 2007

Print ISBN-13: 9780520098596

Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012

DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520098596.001.0001

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PRINTED FROM CALIFORNIA SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.california.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright University of California Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in CALSO for personal use.date: 01 July 2022

Growth Rates of Male California Voles During a Peak Density Year: The Chitty Effect Revisited

Growth Rates of Male California Voles During a Peak Density Year: The Chitty Effect Revisited

Tasas De Crecimiento En Machos Del Metorito De California Durante Un AÑO De Densidades Maximas: Una RevisiÓN Del Efecto Chitty

Chapter:
(p.28) (p.29) Growth Rates of Male California Voles During a Peak Density Year: The Chitty Effect Revisited
Source:
The Quintessential Naturalist
Author(s):

William Z. Lidicker

Publisher:
University of California Press
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520098596.003.0002

This chapter directs considerable research effort toward understanding the (Chitty Effect) phenomenon in the expectation that it will lead to elucidation of the cyclic mechanisms. It notes that temporal changes in body mass can serve as sensitive indicators of demographic processes. The chapter explains that in arvicoline rodents undergoing multi-annual cycles, body mass tends to increase significantly during phases of rapid growth to peak numbers. The chapter examines individual body-growth rates in a population of California voles (Microtus californicus) over an 11-month period when the density grew to about 1000/ha and then abruptly declined. It analyzes the results in the context of six hypotheses that have been proposed to account for the Chitty Effect. The chapter concludes that significant influences leading to extra-large sizes include adequate food supply, a long period which is favorable for growth, high starting densities, low population pressure, and, in some individuals, allocation of resources to growth instead of reproduction.

Keywords:   cyclic mechanisms, temporal changes, body mass, demographic processes, arvicoline rodents, California voles, Microtus californicus, Chitty Effect

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