Generation length for mammals

By

Pacifici, Michela
Santini, Luca
Di Marco, Moreno
Baisero, Daniele
Francucci, Lucilla
Grottolo Marasini, Gabriele
Visconti, Piero
Rondinini, Carlo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013

Original Publication

Nature conservation

Volume

5

Pages

89-94

Subjects

Age at first reproduction , conservation assessment , IUCN Red List , Longevity , reproductive life span

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2012-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.5.5734

 

Abstract

Generation length (GL) is defined as the average age of parents of the current cohort, reflecting the turnover rate of breeding individuals in a population. GL is a fundamental piece of information for population ecology as well as for measuring species threat status (e.g. in the IUCN Red List). Here we present a dataset including GL records for all extant mammal species (n=5427). We first reviewed all data on GL published in the IUCN Red List database. We then calculated a value for species with available reproductive parameters (reproductive life span and age at first reproduction). We assigned to missing-data species a mean GL value from congeneric or confamilial species (depending on data availability). Finally, for a few remaining species, we assigned mean GL values from species with similar body mass and belonging to the same order. Our work provides the first attempt to complete a database of GL for mammals; it will be an essential reference point for all conservation-related studies that need pragmatic information on species GL, such as population dynamics and applications of the IUCN Red List assessment.