Marsupials take it easy, compared with other mammals

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-08-23 09:01

Australia; International; NSW; QLD

CC-0

Brazilian and Australian scientists have looked at how the lives of marsupials differ from those of other mammals, and say they are strikingly similar but marsupial life histories are generally slower than those of their placental cousins. The researchers looked at five different aspects of survival and reproduction, and found marsupials develop and grow more slowly than other mammals of similar size, and have slower metabolisms. These differences in the pace of life are probably related to differences in reproduction, ecology, and diet, they say.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Marsupial position on life-history continua and the potential contribution of life-history traits to population growth

New research reveals striking similarities between marsupial and placental mammal life histories. By analysing five key survival and reproductive traits, scientists have extended the classification of placental life-history strategies to marsupials. The study uncovers significant trade-offs in marsupial life-history, involving reproductive effort and extent of concentration of lifetime reproductive episodes, and between reproduction and survival. Adult survival and body mass also play crucial roles in shaping marsupial life-history patterns. The authors propose that marsupial ecology and energy constraints are fundamental factors influencing their position on the life-history continuum, shedding new light on mammalian evolution.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research The Royal Society, Web page The URL will go live at some point after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Sydney, The University of Queensland, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Funder: Funding for this study was provided by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) to MSF and CAPES - PNPD (grant number 1808844/2018) to M.S.L.F. During development of the paper, MSF was also supported by Fundação Nacional de Desenvolvimento de Ensino Superior Particular (grant number) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq (grant number 151999/2022-8). The Australian Research Council and a UQ fellowship provided support for CRD and DOF (including FT110100191 and DP0773920) during data collection and analysis. M.V.V. was supported by CNPq (grant numbers 308.974/2015-8, 441.589/2016-2), and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - FAPERJ (grant number E-203.045/2017).

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.