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Cited by 62Animal Behavior and ReproductionWildlife Ecology and ConservationPrimate Behavior and Ecology

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 72 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Body Mass, Territory Size, and Life-History Tactics in a Socially Monogamous Canid, the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes

Open access
Iossa, Graziella, Soulsbury, Carl D., Baker, Philip J., Harris, Stephen·2008·Journal of Mammalogy
DOI 10.1644/07-mamm-a-405.1
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Abstract

Abstract Male-biased sexual size dimorphism is typical of polygynous mammals, where the degree of dimorphism in body mass is related to male intrasexual competition and the degree of polygyny. However, the importance of body mass in monogamous mammals is largely unknown. We investigated the effect of body mass on life-history parameters and territory size in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), a socially monogamous canid with slight sexual dimorphism. Increased body size in males appeared to confer an advantage in territory acquisition and defense contests because heavier males held larger territories and exerted a greater boundary pressure on smaller neighbors. Heavier male foxes invested more effort in searching for extrapair matings by moving over a wider area and farther from their territories, leading to greater reproductive success. Males that sired cubs outside their own social group appeared to be heavier than males that only sired cubs within their social group or that were cuckolded, but our results should be treated with caution because sample sizes were small. Territory size, boundary pressure, and paternity success were not related to age of males. In comparison, body mass of females was not related to territory size, probability of breeding, litter size, or cub mass. Only age affected probability of breeding in females: younger females reproduced significantly less than did older females, although we did not measure individual nutritional status. Thus, body mass had a significant effect on life-history traits and territory size in a socially monogamous species comparable to that reported in polygynous males, even in the absence of large size dimorphism.

Overview

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Registry

Crossref · 10.1644/07-mamm-a-405.1

Cites

72 of 72 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Citations

Cites

Show all 72 references

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Andersson M. 1994. Sexual selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
  2. Ansell R. J. 2004. The spatial organisation of a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) population in relation to food resources. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
  3. Meier T. J. Burch J. W. Mech L. D. Adams L. G. . 1995. Pack structure and genetic relatedness among wolf packs in a naturally-regulated population. Pp. 293–302 in Ecology and conservation of wolves in a changing world ( Carbyn L. N. Fritts S. H. Seip D. R. , eds.). University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
  4. Thomas C. S. Coulson J. C. . 1988. Reproductive success of kittiwake gulls, Ris sa tridactyla . Pp. 251–262 in Reproductive success: studies of individual variation in contrasting breeding systems ( Clutton-Brock T. H. , ed.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.

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Metadata

Authors
Iossa, G., Soulsbury, C. D., Baker, P. J., & Harris, S.
Affiliations
University of Bristol (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Mammalogy
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2008-12-16
Volume
89
Issue
6
Pages
1481-1490
ISSN
  • 0022-2372 (ISSN-L)
  • 1545-1542
DOI
10.1644/07-mamm-a-405.1
OpenAlex
W2140861649
Cited by
62
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
FWCI
2.35
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of Mammalogy (publishedVersion)
  • Explore Bristol Research (publishedVersion)
  • Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) (acceptedVersion)
  • BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • International Fund for Animal Welfare
  • Rotary Foundation
  • University of Bristol
  • Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust
  • Natural Environment Research Council
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords
red fox, body mass, territory size, life history tactics, sexual size dimorphism, extra-pair paternity, paternity success, boundary pressure, reproductive success, age effects on reproduction, litter size, Canidae

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Body Mass, Territory Size, and Life-History Tactics in a Socially Monogamous Canid, the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1644/07-mamm-a-405.1
The paper
Iossa, G., Soulsbury, C. D., Baker, P. J., & Harris, S. (2008). Body Mass, Territory Size, and Life-History Tactics in a Socially Monogamous Canid, the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes. Journal of Mammalogy. https://doi.org/10.1644/07-mamm-a-405.1

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.