Yellow-Bellied Marmot Ecology, Behavior, and Population Dynamics
Explores long-term population ecology of yellow-bellied marmots through decades of mark-recapture and behavioral observation, examining how social structure, winter survival, and antipredator behavior shape individual fitness and population dynamics.
Knowledge Graph (1169 nodes, 9402 connections)
Research Primer
Background
Yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) are large, ground-dwelling squirrels that hibernate for roughly eight months of each year in the meadows around Gothic, Colorado. Because they live in burrow-centered family groups, communicate with distinctive alarm whistles, and have been studied continuously since 1962, they have become one of the world's premier model systems for asking how individual behavior, social life, climate, and demography fit together in a mountain ecosystem. For the Gunnison Basin, marmots matter both as conspicuous members of the subalpine fauna and as sentinels of how warming winters and shifting growing seasons reshape hibernating mammals.
Several concepts run through the work that follows. Marmots are facultatively social, meaning that individuals have flexibility in whether and how strongly they associate with kin and neighbors rather than being obligately group-living. Researchers map these associations using social network analysis, a method that quantifies not only who interacts with whom but also each individual's position in the broader web of relationships. Many marmot studies focus on antipredator behavior — the suite of vigilance, hiding, and evasion tactics animals use to avoid being eaten — and especially on flight initiation distance, the distance at which a marmot starts running from an approaching human or predator. Flight initiation distance is widely used as a quick, repeatable index of how risky an animal perceives its surroundings to be, and it is sensitive to habituation, the gradual loss of responsiveness to repeated harmless stimuli such as hikers.
Marmot research also draws heavily on population ecology. Long-term mark-recapture, in which individually tagged animals are re-trapped year after year, lets researchers estimate vital rates such as summer survival and winter survival and combine them into population models. Because marmots must gain enough mass before hibernation to survive eight months underground, body condition links climate to demography. Other recurring ideas include dispersal (the movement of young animals away from their natal colony), philopatry (the tendency to remain near where one was born), kin selection and reproductive skew (the unequal sharing of reproduction within groups), alarm communication including nonlinear phenomena (noisy, chaotic acoustic features in calls produced by highly aroused animals), and the slow-fast life-history continuum that ranks species by how quickly they reproduce and die. Together these ideas frame marmots as a system where behavior, genetics, and climate jointly shape who survives the next winter.
Foundational work
The foundations of marmot ecology at RMBL were laid by Kenneth Armitage and colleagues, who showed that the social structure of burrow colonies is itself an evolutionary outcome. Comparative work across burrowing sciurids argued that sociality in marmots evolved as a life-history tactic tied to body-size energetics and the retention of daughters in maternal home ranges (Armitage, 1981), while early genetic surveys demonstrated that the colonial substructure of yellow-bellied marmots maintains genetic variation among colonies and slows the loss of diversity (Schwartz & Armitage, 1980). Classic work on the mating system showed that female reproductive success is highest when monogamous but male success rises with harem size, helping to explain the polygamous social structure characteristic of the species (Downhower & Armitage, 1971).
A second foundational thread examined the costs and benefits of dispersal versus philopatry, finding that dispersing marmots survived only about 16% less well than those that stayed home — a surprisingly small cost that helped explain why dispersal persists as a fitness-improving tactic (Van Vuren & Armitage, 1994). In parallel, Blumstein and colleagues built a comparative framework for alarm communication, showing that whistles, trills, and chucks vary with risk and individual identity but do not map neatly onto specific predator types (Blumstein & Armitage, 1997), and that social complexity explains roughly 40% of the variation in alarm-call repertoire size across ground-dwelling sciurids (Blumstein & Armitage, 1997). Methodologically, the broader expansion of social network analysis into animal behavior (Wey et al., 2008) and the comparative use of dispersal and life-history data (Koenig et al., 1996) gave marmot researchers tools that still structure the field today.
Key findings
Perhaps the single most influential result from the RMBL marmot system is that climate change has rewired the link between body mass and population growth. Earlier emergence from hibernation and earlier weaning lengthened the active season, allowing marmots to reach larger pre-hibernation masses; this raised adult survival and pushed population growth rate from roughly 1.02 to 1.18 in the later study period (Ozgul et al., 2010). Subsequent work refined that picture: summer survival has generally risen while winter survival has declined across a 40-year record, showing that climate effects on hibernators are seasonally complex (pub_id:509). Demographic analyses identified survival of reproductive adult females at a small number of high-quality colony sites as the linchpin of long-term persistence (pub_id:1518; pub_id:1699), and life-table response experiments attributed most variation in population growth to direct effects of survival and reproduction (pub_id:726). Females reproducing earlier had higher fitness, although most females (86%) died without reproducing at all (pub_id:1866), and daughters born to older mothers had higher lifetime reproductive success (pub_id:525).
A second body of findings centers on social behavior and its fitness consequences. Marmot societies show substantial reproductive skew, with most males never reproducing, and they form multigenerational kin groups that recognize members from non-members (Blumstein, 2025). Counterintuitively, strong affiliative ties are not always good: females with weaker affiliation had higher annual reproductive success (pub_id:1300), and strong social relationships were associated with decreased longevity (pub_id:706). Yearlings that were more socially embedded were less likely to disperse, supporting the social cohesion hypothesis (pub_id:1494), and early play behavior predicted later dominance rank (pub_id:1189). Recent multilevel selection analyses show that selection on group social structure can be as strong as, or stronger than, selection on individual sociality, and that selection within and between levels can act in opposing directions — potentially explaining why increased sociality has not simply spread through the population (Philson et al., 2025).
A third strand concerns alarm communication and antipredator behavior. Marmot whistles encode individual identity, age, and sex, with about 63% of calls correctly assigned to the caller (Blumstein & Munos, 2005), and receivers discriminate among callers, foraging less after hearing reliable individuals (pub_id:1779). Calls contain abundant nonlinear acoustic features — subharmonics, biphonation, chaos — that increase listener responsiveness and that are produced more by socially isolated and parasite-infected animals (Blumstein, 2025). On the visual side, flight initiation distance is shaped by colony-level human disturbance, vegetation cover, and weather: marmots in highly disturbed sites flee at 12 m versus 95 m at quiet sites (Scurka et al., 2025), and flight distance shortens by about 10 m as temperatures rise from 0 to 24°C (Sanchez et al., 2025). Over 15 years, marmots in disturbed areas have habituated, allowing closer human approaches even while spending more time vigilant (pub_id:439).
Current frontier
Early work in the 1970s and 1980s established the social and genetic structure of marmot colonies; studies through the 1990s and 2000s elaborated alarm communication, dispersal costs, and demographic variation; and a wave of climate-focused papers around 2010 reframed marmots as a model for phenology-driven population change. Recent studies since 2020 have shifted focus in three directions. First, quantitative genetic animal models are now being applied to behaviors that were once considered purely environmental: flight initiation distance has modest but significant heritability (h² ≈ 0.15–0.18) (Scurka et al., 2025), the propensity to give alarm calls is heritable in both natural and trapping contexts (Blumstein et al., 2025), and even the noisiness or entropy of alarm calls has a genetic component (Blumstein et al., 2025). Second, social network analysis is being pushed toward multilevel selection and the Social Security Hypothesis, with evidence that individuals in more reciprocal groups spend less time scanning for predators (Philson et al., 2025) and that group structure itself is a target of selection (Philson et al., 2025).
Third, comparative and mechanistic work on climate is broadening. Cross-species life-cycle analyses including marmots show that simultaneous climatic drivers and density dependence interact to amplify or buffer population responses, with fast-paced life histories most sensitive to climate (Ickin et al., 2025). New studies tie weather and seasonality directly to risk assessment and vigilance — rainfall in the prior week increases vigilance (Bobb et al., 2025), and warmer days reduce flight distance (Sanchez et al., 2025) — while early-life adversity and elevation are being linked to adult stress hormones (Kong et al., 2025). Comparative studies of golden-mantled ground squirrels and least chipmunks at RMBL are extending these questions to other rodents, including dispersal patterns (Nguyen et al., 2025) and habituation along human-disturbance gradients (Mikaru, 2025).
Open questions
Major questions remain. How will the seasonal split between rising summer survival and declining winter survival ultimately balance out as snowpack continues to shrink, and which colony sites will act as refuges or sinks under that change? Why are strongly affiliative females less long-lived and less reproductively successful, and how do antagonistic selection pressures within and between levels shape the slow evolution of sociality in this facultatively social species? How heritable, and how evolvable, are antipredator and communicative traits in the face of accelerating human disturbance — and at what point does habituation become maladaptive? Finally, how will early-life adversity, parasite load, stress physiology, and the social environment combine to determine which individuals contribute disproportionately to future generations? Answering these questions will require continued long-term monitoring at RMBL, integration of quantitative genetics with social network and demographic models, and broader comparison among co-occurring Gunnison Basin rodents.
References
(Additional cited findings without lead-author parenthetical citations: pub_id:509, 706, 1189, 1300, 1494, 1518, 1699, 1779, 1866, 525, 726, 439.)
Armitage, K. (1981). Sociality as a life-history tactic of ground squirrels. Oecologia. →
Blumstein, D. (2025). Nonlinear phenomena in marmot alarm calls: a mechanism encoding fear? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. →
Blumstein, D. (2025). Society formation and maintenance in yellow-bellied marmots. Animal Behaviour. →
Blumstein, D., & Armitage, K. (1997). Alarm calling in yellow-bellied marmots: I. The meaning of situationally variable alarm calls. Animal Behaviour. →
Blumstein, D., & Armitage, K. (1997). Does sociality drive the evolution of communicative complexity? A comparative test with ground-dwelling sciurid alarm calls. American Naturalist. →
Blumstein, D., & Munos, O. (2005). Individual, age and sex-specific information is contained in yellow-bellied marmot alarm calls. Animal Behaviour. →
Blumstein, D., et al. (2025). Is the propensity to alarm-call heritable and related across multiple contexts? Animal Behaviour. →
Blumstein, D., et al. (2025). The sound of fear is heritable. Current Zoology. →
Bobb, et al. (2025). Does rainfall or temperature influence antipredator vigilance in a hibernating mammal? Behavioral Ecology. →
Downhower, J., & Armitage, K. (1971). The yellow-bellied marmot and the evolution of polygamy. American Naturalist. →
Ickin, et al. (2025). Comparative life-cycle analyses reveal interacting climatic and biotic drivers of population responses to climate change. PNAS Nexus. →
Koenig, W., et al. (1996). Detectability, philopatry, and the distribution of dispersal distances in vertebrates. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. →
Kong, et al. (2025). Is early life adversity associated with adult stress in a wild rodent? Ecology and Evolution. →
Mikaru. (2025). Assessing anthropogenic effects on golden-mantled ground squirrel and least chipmunk flight initiation distances. →
Nguyen, et al. (2025). Dispersal of the golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis). Journal of Mammalogy. →
Ozgul, A., et al. (2010). Coupled dynamics of body mass and population growth in response to environmental change. Nature. →
Philson, C., & Blumstein, D. (2025). Wild marmots' social networks reveal controversial evolutionary theory in action. The Conversation. →
Philson, C., et al. (2025). Multilevel selection on individual and group social behaviour in the wild. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. →
Philson, C., et al. (2025). Social security: individuals in socially reciprocal groups may perceive security from predators. Behavioral Ecology. →
Sanchez, et al. (2025). Climatic variation and risk assessment in a highly seasonal mammal. Current Zoology. →
Schwartz, O., & Armitage, K. (1980). Genetic variation in social mammals: the marmot model. Science. →
Scurka, et al. (2025). The heritability of fear: decomposing sources of variation in marmot flight initiation distance. Animal Behaviour. →
Van Vuren, D., & Armitage, K. (1994). Survival of dispersing and philopatric yellow-bellied marmots: what is the cost of dispersal? Oikos. →
Wey, T., et al. (2008). Social network analysis of animal behaviour: a promising tool for the study of sociality. Animal Behaviour. →
Concept (153) →
antipredator behavior
Behaviors that reduce the likelihood of predation, including vigilance and evasion tactics
winter survival
Survival of organisms through winter diapause or dormancy, often related to environmental conditions during overwintering
social phenotype
Quantifiable aspects of social behavior and social structure that can be subject to natural selection
social network analysis
A method used to quantify social relationships that not only quantifies the direct relationship between a focal individual and its social partners, bu...
alarm communication
Vocal signals produced in response to predator detection to warn conspecifics or communicate threat information
density dependence
Population regulation mechanism where demographic rates depend on population density through competition and resource limitation
flight initiation distance
The distance at which an individual initiates moving away from an approaching humans, reflecting flightiness of an animal in response to a potential p...
slow-fast continuum
A commonly used framework to describe variation in life-history strategies across species, ranking organisms from slow to fast living based on combina...
metapopulation structure
The spatial arrangement and connectivity of subpopulations across a landscape that influences local population dynamics
vital rates
Demographic rates including survival, growth, flowering probability, seed production, and germination that determine population dynamics
Show 143 more concepts
mark-recapture
Method for estimating demographic parameters by marking individuals and tracking recapture histories over time
integral projection models
Demographic models that project population dynamics using continuous size or stage distributions
time allocation tradeoff
The finite time and energy budget forcing organisms to trade off between competing activities like foraging and vigilance
environmental stochasticity
Random environmental variation that affects demographic parameters across all individuals in a population simultaneously
dispersal
The movement away from your place of birth and onto another location involving decision to depart, displacement, and settlement
vigilance behavior
Time allocation to scanning for predators versus other activities like foraging, measured through specific postures and head orientations
facultative sociality
Social systems where individuals have flexibility in their social behaviors and group membership rather than being obligately social
anthropogenic disturbance
Human activities that impose novel challenges on a wide range of species, which can negatively influence individuals, populations, and communities as ...
kin selection
Natural selection that favors behaviors that benefit relatives, even at a cost to the individual performing the behavior
centrality measures
Network statistics that quantify the importance or influence of individuals within social networks, including degree, closeness, betweenness, and eige...
habituation
Process by which animals become less responsive to repeated non-threatening stimuli over time
acoustic playback experiment
Experimental technique using recorded sounds played back to animals to test behavioral or physiological responses to acoustic stimuli
vocal individuality
The degree to which individuals can be discriminated from one another based on their vocalizations, quantified using information theory
behavioral syndromes
Correlations between multiple repeatable, individually distinct behaviors that form consistent behavioral patterns across situations
body condition
Measure of an animal's physical state, often assessed through body mass relative to size
fecal glucocorticoid metabolites
Metabolites of stress hormones measured in fecal samples as a proxy for physiological stress levels
reproductive suppression
Reduction in reproductive output of individuals due to presence of other conspecifics, particularly older or dominant individuals
animal personality
Consistent individual differences in behaviour across time and contexts, concept known as animal personality, behavioural types, temperament or coping...
polygamous mating system
Mating system where males compete with one another over access to matelines consisting of groups of related females
philopatry
tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area
population stage structure
The distribution of individuals across different size or age classes within a population
resting metabolic rate
The rate of energy expenditure for basic physiological maintenance processes, measured as CO₂ emission rate.
summer survival
Probability of surviving the summer active season, measured by last sighting dates relative to seasonal cutoffs
animal model
Statistical approach that includes individual identity as a random effect linked to a pedigree to estimate additive genetic variance
docility
Individual's reaction to being trapped and handled, measured on behavioral scale from aggressive to passive responses
antisocial behavior
Directed aggression toward conspecifics, increasing spatial distancing from or decreasing huddling with unfamiliar conspecifics
inbreeding depression
Reduced fitness in inbred individuals compared to outbred individuals due to expression of deleterious recessive alleles
stress hormones
Cortisol and glucocorticoids that help regulate energy balance in animals and could determine dispersal behavior under stressful conditions
group size effect
The hypothesis that animals allocate less time to antipredator vigilance as a function of increasing numbers of animals foraging together
reproductive senescence
A within-individual process caused by deterioration in molecular and physiological function resulting in a decrease in survival probability and reprod...
phylogenetically independent contrasts
A method to test for phylogenetic signal by comparing empirical data variance to variance from randomly reshuffled species identities across trait dat...
focal animal sampling
Behavioral observation method where a single individual is observed continuously for a fixed time period
Social Security Hypothesis
Individuals in more tightly connected social groups perceive greater security from predators and allocate less time to antipredator vigilance while fo...
time budget
The allocation of time among different activities that determines overall energy expenditure patterns
dominance hierarchy
Social ranking system based on agonistic interactions where some individuals consistently dominate others
nonlinear phenomena
Acoustic phenomena including subharmonics, biphonation, deterministic chaos, and warbles that occur when vocal production apparatus loses control
neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio
Ratio of neutrophil to lymphocyte white blood cell counts used as a measure of immune response activity
ecotourism
Nature-based tourism activities that can provide conservation benefits but may also impact wildlife behavior through human presence
vehicular collision mortality
Mortality from roadkill events where animals are struck and killed by vehicles
survival probability
The likelihood that an individual survives from one time period to the next
intraclass correlation coefficient
Statistical measure of repeatability that tests individual consistency of a continuous variable by comparing within-subject and between-subject variat...
matrilineal society
Social organization where related females remain together and males typically disperse
boldness
Individual's reaction to a non-novel, risky situation
population sensitivity
Scaled measure of how population growth rate responds to changes in environmental drivers
intra-individual variation
Variation in behavioral expression within individuals across time or contexts
Life Table Response Experiment
A method to partition variance in population growth rate into contributions arising from temporal covariances of demographic parameters at different t...
reproduction ratio
The average number of offspring produced by a typical individual during its life, calculated as the product of offspring number and survival probabili...
inclusive fitness
Fitness benefits that include both direct fitness (individual's own reproductive success) and indirect fitness (fitness gained by helping relatives re...
affiliative social relationships
Positive social interactions and bonds between individuals including behaviors like grooming, playing, and proximity maintenance
nonlinearity and fear hypothesis
Hypothesis that highly aroused animals produce nonlinear vocalizations because they lose control of their larynx over vocal fold production apparatus
compensatory growth
Ability of organisms to compensate for poor early-life conditions through increased feeding or altered resource allocation later in life
social embeddedness
The degree to which an individual is integrated in their group based on the number of independent links to others in the group
context dependency
Variation in the strength or direction of ecological effects depending on environmental conditions or organism characteristics
Beecher's information statistic
A statistic derived from information theory that quantifies individuality by calculating inter-individual variation relative to intra-individual varia...
transgenerational plasticity
Plasticity that occurs across generations where parental environmental effects influence offspring phenotype or fitness
age at first reproduction
The age at which females first reproduce, an important component of vertebrate life histories with effects on individual fitness and population dynami...
social cohesion hypothesis
The hypothesis that the more an individual interacts with others, the less likely they are to disperse
trade-offs
Situations where time spent on one activity reduces time available for other activities
long-term ecological studies
Ecological research projects that follow individuals or systems over extended periods, often spanning decades
unpredictability hypothesis
Hypothesis that nonlinear phenomena are more variable or more abrupt and therefore more unpredictable, making animals less likely to habituate to them...
acoustic communication
Communication through sound production that requires receivers to detect and discern between distinct acoustic signals
nest density
Number of nests per unit area, calculated by dividing number of nests in each habitat by total area
temporal demographic correlation
The correlation between different demographic parameters (survival, reproduction, productivity) measured across the same time periods within a populat...
functionally referential communication
Signals that meet criteria of stimulus-class specificity and contextual independence, where alarm calls are said to be functionally referential when t...
sound degradation
Attenuation and degradation of sound over distance due to atmospheric absorption, ground attenuation, signal scattering, and deflection by layered sur...
Clutton-Brock index
A method for calculating dominance based on an individual's relative number of wins or losses that is tolerant of missing pair-wise interactions and w...
litter sex composition
The proportion of male versus female offspring in a litter affecting prenatal hormone exposure
bout length
The duration of continuous engagement in a particular behavioral activity
communication complexity evolution
The evolutionary processes leading to the development of multiple distinct call types in animal communication systems
social thermoregulation
Behavioral and physiological mechanisms whereby group-living animals share body heat to reduce thermoregulatory costs
group living
Social organization where individuals aggregate in groups, potentially providing antipredator benefits through collective vigilance and dilution effec...
multistate model
A capture-recapture model that accounts for transitions between different states (e.g., age classes) and estimates state-specific survival and detecti...
motivation-structure rules
Morton's theory that physical behaviors and acoustic signals are associated, with aggressive behaviors linked to noisy, low-frequency sounds and submi...
social complexity
Demographic metric based on information theory quantifying the variation in social group composition across age and sex classes
neophobia
An aversion to novel stimuli, measured as latency to touch the puzzle box from stepping onto the platform
anogenital distance
The distance between the anus and the genital papilla, used as a non-invasive measure of prenatal exposure to sex steroid hormones
inbreeding coefficient
Measure of the level of inbreeding within a population, with values close to 1.0 indicating high levels of inbreeding
acoustic entropy
Measure of how noisy or random a sound is, with pure tones having entropy values approaching negative infinity
practice hypothesis
The hypothesis that play provides an opportunity to practice and refine skills that will be needed later in adulthood
discriminant function analysis
Statistical technique used to classify observations into predefined groups based on multiple variables
condition dependence
The concept that signal production and structure depend on an individual's health status and condition
group size effects
Changes in social behavior and group dynamics that result from variation in the number of individuals in a social group
multipredator hypothesis
Assumes that antipredator adaptations evolve together and thus prey may respond to extinct predators as long as they have experience with other predat...
brain-gut axis
Communication between the central and enteric nervous systems as a potential mechanism for microbiome-behavior relationships
cut points
Number of social ties that if cut will result in two or more separate networks, measuring group fragmentation
food supplementation
Experimental provision of additional food resources to wild populations to test resource limitation hypotheses
social reciprocity
Measures the proportion of relationships within a group where both individuals initiate interactions with each other, indicating mutual social relatio...
demographic social roles
The idea that individuals of different age-sex categories contribute differently to social structure and cohesion
rolling circle amplification
DNA amplification technique that amplifies circular DNA templates using phi29 DNA polymerase
locomotor performance
Maximum running speed of an individual measured during chase trials
demographic buffering hypothesis
Hypothesis that populations may be buffered from adverse climatic effects when vital rates with high impacts on population growth exhibit the least te...
mass gain
Proportional increase in body mass during the active growing season, calculated as August 15 body mass divided by June 1 body mass
experience-independent mechanism
Predator recognition abilities that do not require prior learning or experience with predators but are based on innate or genetically-determined respo...
energy conservation
Physiological and behavioral adaptations to minimize energy expenditure
male-biased dispersal
Pattern where male mammals tend to travel farther than females in exploratory excursions and disperse more than females
immune response
Physiological responses of the immune system to pathogens, trauma, stress and inflammation
hibernation ecology
Winter survival strategy of some small mammals that may affect their vulnerability to avalanche disturbance depending on burrow depth and emergence ti...
acoustic adaptation hypothesis
Explains how acoustic signal structure is shaped by habitat-driven selection that enhances the propagation of relatively undegraded vocalizations
data archiving
The practice of making research data publicly available for verification and reuse
hemispheric lateralization
Specialization of left and right brain hemispheres to carry out specific activities, with right hemisphere processing threats and left hemisphere proc...
genetic rescue
Improvement in population fitness through the introduction of new genetic material
individual-based model
Computational model that simulates individual organisms and their life histories to understand population-level patterns
multisensory integration
The combining of information from multiple sensory modalities that influences decision-making
innovation
The ability to devise a novel solution to a novel or existing problem, measured as successful opening of puzzle box
masculinization
The process by which female mammals that develop in male-biased litters show signs of masculinization because they are exposed to testosterone produce...
behavioral diversity
A measure of the variety of behaviors an individual uses, calculated using Shannon index across different behavioral categories during problem-solving...
circadian clock
Internal biological timing system that maintains rhythmicity in a wide range of behavioral, physiological, and metabolic processes
repeatability
The proportion of variance in a trait that is explained by individual identity, indicating consistency of individual differences over time and across ...
mutual tolerance
When any social group contains 2 or more males with neither male forced to leave the group because of conflict
partner preference
When animals prefer to associate with certain individuals over others within a group
spectrogram correlation
Quantitative measure of acoustic similarity between sounds, ranging from 0 to 1.0 with higher correlations indicating more similar sounds
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
A principle stating that allele and genotype frequencies remain constant in a population under certain conditions
acoustic transmission fidelity
A measure of how well acoustic signals maintain their structure when transmitted through different environments
Type II survivorship curve
A survivorship pattern where approximately constant proportions of individuals survive through each age class
among-individual correlation
Correlation between behavioral traits at the individual level, estimated while controlling for within-individual variation and environmental effects
covariance reaction norm
Statistical model allowing phenotypic correlations between traits to vary continuously with environmental predictors
parasite infection
Infection by internal parasites including blood-borne trypanosomes and intestinal parasites that can affect host behavior and physiology
exploration
Behavioral tendency to investigate novel environments, measured through open-field tests
boldness
Risk-taking behavior calculated from flight initiation distance to a simulated predator approach
social microbiome
The relationship between the microbiome and sociality in animals
interpath angle
The angle between the paths of predator and prey to the prey's refuge, expressing degree to which prey must run towards an approaching predator
multiple paternity
Litters where offspring are sired by more than one male
individual heterogeneity
High diversity of life-history traits among individuals within populations, potentially masking life-history trade-offs
energy tradeoffs
Breeding birds must balance energy allocation between reproduction and survival, with parasites forcing energy towards immune response rather than rep...
ecology of fear
The concept that predator-prey interactions extend beyond direct predation and can influence prey behavior and habitat use through perceived predation...
reproductive skew
Unequal distribution of reproduction among group members, with some individuals having much higher reproductive success than others
reproductive status
Classification of female reproductive phase as gestation/lactation or post-reproductive/pre-hibernation
Hamilton-Zuk hypothesis
Males infected with parasites will have reduced mate attraction as a consequence of less enhanced secondary sexual characters due to energy allocation...
within-individual centering approach
An analytical approach where deviations from an individual's average behavior or phenotype are calculated to quantify and analyze how an individual's ...
litter relocation behavior
Behavior in which a female moves her litter to a new location
generation time
The mean age of females when they lay eggs or give birth, calculated as the inverse of the sum of elasticities of population growth rate to changes in...
ontogeny
An individual's development from egg to adult
territory size
Linear distance along stream between upper and lower boundaries of breeding territory
reciprocal altruism
Individuals participate in seemingly altruistic behaviors because they have reciprocal relationships and take turns
mirror image stimulus test
Behavioral test using mirror exposure to gauge shy and bold behavior through observed interactions with reflection
costs and benefits of sociality
Theoretical framework examining trade-offs between advantages and disadvantages of group living
haemoparasites
Blood parasites including Haematazoa subclass with four main genera: Leucocytozoon, Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, and Trypanosoma, vectored by dipterans
territoriality
wildland-urban interface
Areas where expanding development meets undeveloped wildland that may increase wildlife-vehicle collisions
predation pressure
Selection pressure imposed by predators that may favor optimal body sizes for escape ability
palatability
The acceptability of food items based on taste, texture, and chemical composition
social structure
Organization of individuals within populations based on family groups and territorial patterns
acute phase response
A brief but generalized sickness syndrome triggered by bacterial infections and LPS injection
Protocol (53) →
mark-recapture (Sciuridae)
A 20-year longitudinal study tracking individually marked female marmots through live-trapping, unique marking, and behavioral observations to quantif...
focal animal sampling (Sciuridae)
Live-trapping and marking of yellow-bellied marmots followed by systematic focal behavioral observations to quantify time allocation to different beha...
Social network analysis (Sciuridae)
Direct observation of social interactions using binoculars and spotting scopes during peak activity periods. Interactions are classified as affiliativ...
Flight initiation distance measurement (Sciuridae)
Systematic measurement of antipredator escape behavior by approaching focal individuals at standardized speed and recording distances at key behaviora...
LTRE analysis (Sciuridae)
Stage-mass-structured IPMs incorporating seasonal demographic transitions and environmental stochasticity for population viability analysis. Uses pros...
automated weather monitoring (Sciuridae)
Integration of temperature, precipitation, and snow cover data from multiple weather stations and remote sensing platforms to characterize environment...
microsatellite parentage assignment (Sciuridae)
DNA extraction from hair samples followed by microsatellite genotyping to determine parentage relationships and construct molecular pedigrees for quan...
Blumstein & Daniel transmission fidelity technique (Sciuridae)
Digital recording and spectral analysis of alarm vocalizations to quantify entropy and goodness of pitch as measures of call structure and acoustic pr...
radioimmunoassay (Sciuridae)
Progesterone concentrations measured using radioimmunoassay with tritiated progesterone, ether extraction, and antibody binding assay. Standard curves...
parent-offspring regression (Sciuridae)
Mixed-effects modeling approach to partition phenotypic variance into genetic and environmental components using pedigree information and repeated mea...
Show 43 more protocols
fecal flotation (Sciuridae)
Fecal sample collection and zinc sulfate flotation protocol for detecting intestinal parasites including Ascaris, Eimeria, and Entamoeba in marmot fec...
neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio (Sciuridae)
Blood collection and analysis to determine neutrophil and lymphocyte counts for calculating neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios as a measure of immune res...
residual body condition index (Sciuridae)
Linear mixed effect models to estimate individual body mass at key seasonal transition points, accounting for day-of-year effects and random variation...
capture-recapture
Individual animals are uniquely marked and tracked through capture-recapture over multiple decades to estimate survival, reproduction, and productivit...
change point analysis (Sciuridae)
Statistical method using continuous two-phase models to identify the age at which body mass growth stabilizes at adult levels in golden-mantled ground...
Territory mapping (Aves)
Territory delineation by following singing males and recording GPS coordinates of singing locations to map territory boundaries and calculate area and...
radio-telemetry (Sciuridae)
Intensive monitoring of juvenile emergence and movements using daily visual observations and grid-based distance calculations to characterize dispersa...
generalized linear mixed model (Sciuridae)
Bayesian statistical approach to simultaneously estimate individual lifetime means and variances in social traits from longitudinal data. Controls for...
JWatcher behavioral analysis
Systematic recording and quantification of animal behaviors using standardized ethogram categories and time budget analysis with JWatcher software.
Behavioral discrimination experiments for individual recognition (Sciuridae)
Controlled experiments testing marmots' ability to distinguish between individuals using acoustic and olfactory cues to assess recognition capabilitie...
Audio playback experiment
Controlled playback experiments using modified alarm calls to test receiver behavioral responses to different acoustic features including added noise ...
Reproductive success assessment in marmots (Sciuridae)
Assessment of female reproductive success through behavioral observation of pup emergence from natal burrows and pedigree analysis to assign offspring...
open-field test (Sciuridae)
Standardized 4-minute test immediately following open field test where a mirror is revealed to measure sociability and aggressive responses toward con...
GIS-based human disturbance quantification (Sciuridae)
RASTER-based spatial analysis to quantify multiple metrics of anthropogenic disturbance including distance to infrastructure and proportion of impervi...
Predation risk assessment through predator counts (Sciuridae)
Systematic predator monitoring during behavioral observations to quantify predation pressure. Creates predation index by dividing predator counts by o...
Live-trap docility assessment (Sciuridae)
Live-trapping of marmots to assess docility through standardized behavioral responses during capture and handling, including alarm calling propensity ...
Puzzle box innovation testing (Sciuridae)
Deployment of novel puzzle boxes with multiple solution pathways to test problem-solving ability and innovation in wild animals. Video recorded trials...
Remote sensing snowmelt and habitat mapping (Sciuridae)
Use of remote sensing data to determine snowmelt timing and map marmot colony boundaries. Combines satellite imagery analysis with ground-truthed colo...
radiotelemetry (Sciuridae)
Colony sites are visited daily starting April 19th each year to record the first emergence date of individual marmots from hibernation through direct ...
multistate capture-mark-recapture models (Animalia)
Statistical modeling of capture-recapture data to estimate seasonal survival probabilities across age classes using program MARK with model selection ...
Phylogenetically independent contrasts
A standard comparative method that controls for evolutionary relationships among species by analyzing evolutionary changes along phylogenetic branches...
Clutton-Brock index (Sciuridae)
Mathematical method for calculating relative dominance ranks from pairwise interaction outcomes that is tolerant of missing data and accounts for grou...
Beecher information statistic
Quantification of vocal individuality using principal component analysis followed by ANOVA and Beecher's information statistic calculation to measure ...
systematic literature review (Cervidae)
Field playback experiments testing Mule deer responses to predator and control vocalizations. Single observer approached focal deer, conducted pre- an...
Wright-Giemsa staining
Blood slide preparation and microscopic examination for haemosporidian parasite identification using Wright-Giemsa staining and compound microscopy wi...
Food supplementation experiment (Sciuridae)
Controlled feeding experiment providing different protein levels of horse feed to different matrilines while maintaining reference populations. Tests ...
RNA sequencing (Sciuridae)
RNA extraction from blood samples, library preparation, and high-throughput sequencing on Illumina platforms followed by read mapping and differential...
Viral metagenomics from mammalian feces (Sciuridae)
A comprehensive protocol for extracting, amplifying, sequencing and analyzing viral DNA from fecal samples to identify microviral genomes. Uses rollin...
Grid-based habitat characterization (Sciuridae)
Systematic measurement of microhabitat features including vegetation height, cover, and structural elements like perches within a standardized 7×7-m g...
anogenital distance measurement (Sciuridae)
Measurement of anogenital distance using dial or digital callipers to 1mm accuracy as a proxy for prenatal testosterone exposure and masculinization. ...
Cormack-Jolly-Seber model (Sciuridae)
Semi-parametric survival analysis using Cox proportional hazard models to test effects of maternal, social, and environmental covariates on annual sur...
Intensive behavioral monitoring of meerkats
Frequent visits to wild meerkat groups to record births, deaths, emigration, and social status changes over 20 years of continuous observation.
Randomization test for inbreeding avoidance (Sciuridae)
Monte Carlo simulation comparing observed reproductive pair relatedness to expected relatedness under random mating to test for inbreeding avoidance.
coefficient of relatedness calculation (Sciuridae)
Construction of genealogies from long-term observational data and estimation of coefficients of relatedness using Hamilton's method with assumptions a...
Spectrographic song analysis
Detailed measurement of acoustic parameters from spectrograms to quantify song characteristics and calculate vocal individuality metrics.
Tourist traffic volume indexing (Sciuridae)
Weekly counts of visitors at a facility to create a traffic volume index as a proxy for vehicle traffic on nearby roads during peak visitation periods...
PRISMA systematic review
Standardized literature search and screening process to identify and synthesize studies on hibernating mammal responses to climate change, followed by...
phylogenetic comparative method (Sciuridae)
Integration of molecular phylogeny with life history and energetic data to identify evolutionary patterns of energy conservation traits across marmot ...
Principal Component Analysis
Statistical analysis of stream chemistry data transformed to compositional units using PCA to evaluate spatial and temporal trends while removing effe...
Multi-species life-history PCA analysis
Principal component analysis applied across multiple species using demographic traits to identify major axes of life-history variation and test for sl...
Metabolic monitoring during marmot torpor entry (Sciuridae)
Simultaneous measurement of oxygen consumption, body temperature, and conductance in marmots entering torpor to determine mechanisms of metabolic depr...
Marmot blood sampling for viral screening (Sciuridae)
Blood collection from trapped wild marmots via femoral vein puncture during routine handling for long-term population studies. Sera separated and froz...
matrix population model
Construction and parameterization of periodic matrix population models to project population dynamics under different scenarios of environmental perio...
Publication (391) →
Metapopulation dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots
Behavioral and spatial dynamics in a fluctuating population of golden-mantled ground squirrels (<i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>)
Timing of seasonal events is correlated with social network position in a wild mammal
Coupled dynamics of body mass and population growth in response to environmental change
Yellow-bellied marmots: insights from an emergent view of sociality.
Multilevel selection on individual and group social behaviour in the wild
Nonlinear phenomena in marmot alarm calls: a mechanism encoding fear?
The sound of fear is heritable
A test of the social cohesion hypothesis: interactive female marmots remain at home
Is the propensity to alarm-call heritable and related across multiple contexts?
Show 381 more publications
Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes contribute to mass gain variation in female obligate hibernators
Society formation and maintenance in yellow-bellied marmots
The causes and maintenance of personality in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Detecting context dependence in the expression of life history trade-offs
A 32-year demography of yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Social attributes and associated performance measures in marmots: bigger male bullies and weakly affiliating females have higher annual reproductive success
Social control is associated with increased reproductive skew in a wild mammal
Is early life adversity associated with adult stress in a wild rodent?
Costly calling: Marmots who alarm call at higher rates are less likely to survive the summer and live shorter lives
Reproductive Ecology of Female Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels
Marmota flaviventris
Contrasting effects of climate change on seasonal survival of a hibernating mammal.
Reproductive strategies of yellow-bellied marmots: energy conservation and differences between the sexes
Duration of snow cover and its influence on life-history variation in yellow-bellied marmots
Effect of predation risk on the presence and persistence of yellow-bellied marmot <i>(Marmota flaviventris)</i> colonies
Social and population dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots: results from long-term research
Locomotor ability and wariness in yellow-bellied marmots
Social cohesion in yellow-bellied marmots is established through age and kin structuring
Heritability of anti-predatory traits: vigilance and locomotor performance in marmots
Correlates and consequences of dominance in a social rodent
Social enhancement of fitness in yellow-bellied marmots
Seasonal changes in weights of marmots
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in wild yellow-bellied marmots: experimental validation, individual differences and ecological correlates
Demographic consequences of changes in environmental periodicity
Growth and survival of juvenile yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Strong social relationships are associated with decreased longevity in a facultatively social mammal
Social behaviour of a colony of the yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris)
Group social structure has limited impact on reproductive success in a wild mammal
Environmentally induced phenotypic variation in wild yellow-bellied marmots
Male behaviour and territoriality in the yellow-bellied marmot
Social security: are socially connected individuals less vigilant?
The social microbiome: gut microbiome diversity and abundance are negatively associated with sociality in a wild mammal
Alarm calling in yellow-bellied marmots: I. The meaning of situationally variable alarm calls
Behavioral and environmental factors in the spatial distribution and population dynamics of a yellow-bellied marmot population
Alarm calling in yellow-bellied marmots: II. The importance of direct fitness
Fitness and hormonal correlates of social and ecological stressors of female yellow-bellied marmots.
Emergent social structure is typically not associated with survival in a facultatively social mammal
Social network analysis of animal behaviour: a promising tool for the study of sociality
Individual life histories: neither slow nor fast, just diverse
Habituation or sensitization? Long-term responses of yellow-bellied marmots to human disturbance
Correlates of maternal glucocorticoid levels in a socially flexible rodent
Relationships matter: How the social environment affects individual fitness-related behaviors
Development of boldness and docility in yellow-bellied marmots.
How social behaviour and life-history traits change with age and in the year prior to death in female yellow-bellied marmots
Heritable victimization and the benefits of agonistic relationships
Assessing the sensitivity of foraging and vigilance to internal state and environmental variables in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>).
Quantifying human disturbance on antipredator behavior and flush initiation distance in yellow-bellied marmots
Agonistic and affiliative social relationships are associated with marmot docility but not boldness
Bridging animal personality with space use and resource use in a free-ranging population of an asocial ground squirrel
Assessing seasonal demographic covariation to understand environmental-change impacts on a hibernating mammal
Age and location influence the costs of compensatory and accelerated growth in a hibernating mammal
Applying the coalitionary-traits metric: sociality without cooperation in male yellow-bellied marmots
Pattern and variation of the time budget of yellow-bellied marmots.
Pattern and variation of the time budget of yellow-bellied marmots
Are social attributes associated with alarm calling propensity?
Evolution of social position and structure – a multilevel selection perspective
Age, state, environment and season dependence of senescence in body mass
Hibernation as a major determinant of life-history traits in marmots
Population time budget for the yellow-bellied marmot
Is flight initiation distance associated with longer-term survival in yellow-bellied marmots, Marmota flaviventer?
Daily roadkill monitoring and long-term population census reveal female-biased mortality for a small mammal along a wildland-urban interface
Social security: individuals in socially reciprocal groups may perceive security from predators
Does rainfall or temperature influence antipredator vigilance in a hibernating mammal?
Yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>) hibernate socially
Marmot mass gain rates relate to their group’s social structure
Survival of dispersing and philopatric yellow-bellied marmots: what is the cost of dispersal?
Sociality, individual fitness and population dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots
The structure, meaning and function of yellow-bellied marmot pup screams
Individual differences and reproductive success in yellow-bellied marmots
Reliability and the adaptive utility of discrimination among alarm callers
Causes and consequences of variation in social network attributes in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Sick and alone? Evaluating how immune response is associated with social network position in yellow-bellied marmots
How do humans impact yellow-bellied marmots? An integrative analysis
Weather influences on demography of the yellow-bellied marmot (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Yellow-bellied marmot population dynamics: demographic mechanisms of growth and decline
Life history consequences of climate change in hibernating mammals: a review
Proximate causes of natal dispersal in female yellow-bellied marmots, <i>Marmota flaviventris</i>
Yellow-bellied marmots discriminate between the alarm calls of individuals and are more responsive to calls from juveniles
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites and alarm calling in free-living yellow-bellied marmots
Does current weather or seasonality influence antipredator vigilance in a hibernating mammal?
Spatiotemporal variation in reproductive parameters of yellow-bellied marmots
Individual, age and sex-specific information is contained in yellow-bellied marmot alarm calls
Does sociality drive the evolution of communicative complexity? A comparative test with ground-dwelling sciurid alarm calls
Habitat selection in a fluctuating ground squirrel population: Density - dependence and fitness consequences
Energetics of yellow-bellied marmot populations
Age and sex influence marmot antipredator behavior during periods of heightened risk
Temporal correlations among demographic parameters are ubiquitous but highly variable across species
Solutions for archiving data in long-term studies - a reply to Whitlock et al.
Bigger is not always better: Viability selection on body mass varies across life stages in a hibernating mammal
Peripheral obstructions influence marmot vigilance: integrating observational and experimental results
Developmental and social constraints on early reproduction in an asocial ground squirrel
Is the propensity to emit alarm calls associated with health status?
The sound of arousal: the addition of novel non-linearities increases responsiveness in marmot alarm calls
Influence of local demography on asymptotic and transient dynamics of a yellow-bellied marmot metapopulation
Behavioral ecology of alpine yellow-bellied marmots
Spatiotemporal variation in survival rates: implications for population dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots
The effect of maternal glucocorticoid levels on juvenile docility in yellow-bellied marmots
Parasites Are Associated With Noisy Alarm Calls
Litter relocation behavior in two species of ground dwelling squirrels
Social security: less socially connected marmots produce noisier alarm calls
Sociality as a life-history tactic of ground squirrels
Heritable variation in the timing of emergence from hibernation
Influence of population density and climate on the demography of subalpine golden-mantled ground squirrels
The evolution, function, and meaning of marmot alarm communication
More social female yellow-bellied marmots, <i>Marmota flaviventer</i>, have enhanced summer survival
Socioecology of marmots: female reproductive strategies
Early play may predict later dominance relationships in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Individuality, social behavior, and reproductive success in yellow-bellied marmots
Dispersal of the golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis)
Older mothers produce more successful daughters.
Effects of food addition on life history of yellow-bellied marmots
Group size affects social relationships in yellow-bellied marmots <i>(Marmota flaviventris)</i>
Does locomotor ability influence flight initiation distance in yellow-bellied marmots?
Social Security: Do Individuals in Tight-Knit Social Groups Perceive Greater Security?
Social Security: social relationship strength and connectedness influence how marmots respond to alarm calls
Transient LTRE analysis reveals the demographic and trait-mediated processes that buffer population growth
The timing of reproduction is responding plastically, not genetically, to climate change in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer)
Do yellow-bellied marmots respond to predator vocalizations?
Social security: Does social position influence flight initiation distance?
Evolution of sociality in marmots
Maternal survival costs in an asocial mammal
Climatic variation and risk assessment in a highly seasonal mammal
Causes and consequences of pre-hibernation body mass in golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis)
<i> Firmicutes </i> and <i> Bacteroidetes </i> explain mass gain variation in an obligate hibernator
Stochastic population dynamics of a montane ground-dwelling squirrel
No evidence of inbreeding avoidance despite survival costs in a polygynous rodent
Do individual differences influence flight initiation distance?
The effect of food supplementation on juvenile growth and survival in Marmota flaviventris
Yellow-bellied marmots are generalist herbivores
Cooperative breeding in marmots
The (surprising) importance of males in a matrilineal society: behavioural insights from a topological knockout study
Hibernation slows epigenetic ageing in yellow-bellied marmots
The heritability of fear: decomposing sources of variation in marmot flight initiation distance
Defensive and social aggression: repeatable but independent
Producer-scrounger relationships in yellow-bellied marmots
Social variety in the yellow-bellied marmot: a population-behavioural system
The social microbiome: the relationship between the microbiome and sociality in a wild mammal
Stress hormone metabolites predict overwinter survival in yellow-bellied marmots
Social security: Are socially connected individuals less vigilant?
A cost of being amicable in a hibernating marmot.
Cumulative reproductive costs on current reproduction in a wild polytocous mammal
Conditional syndromes: Effect of human disturbance and age on the correlation between flight initiation distance and vigilance in marmots
A test of the multipredator hypothesis: yellow-bellied marmots respond fearfully to the sight of novel and extinct predators
Adaptive strategies and diversity in marmots
Reproductive competition in female yellow-bellied marmots
Female kin density affects offspring sex ratio in an asocial mammal, the golden-mantled ground squirrell <i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>
Yellow-bellied marmots do not compensate for a late start: the role of maternal investment in shaping life-history trajectories
Senescence rates are determined by ranking on the fast-slow life-history continuum
Adaptive gene regulation in wild mammals exposed to high predator abundance
Are Marmot Alarm Class Condition Dependent?
Social effects on emergence from hibernation in yellow-bellied marmots
Are social network measures associated with the propensity to alarm call in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris)?
Is alarm calling risky? Marmots avoid calling from risky places
The benefits of being dominant: Health correlates of male social rank and age in a marmot
Indirect fitness benefits do not compensate for the loss of direct fitness in yellow-bellied marmots
Is Compensatory Growth Costly?
The effect of hemosporidian infections on white-crowned sparrow singing behavior
Effects of Burrow Distance on Anti-predator Vigilance in Foraging Yellow-Bellied Marmots
Can individual variation in phenotypic plasticity enhance population viability?
Litter sex composition affects life-history traits in yellow-bellied marmots
Social position indirectly influences the traits yellow-bellied marmots use to solve problems
Sex-specific reproductive strategies in wild yellow-bellied marmots (<i> Marmota flaviventer </i>): senescence and genetic variance in annual reproductive success differ between the sexes
Dynamics of immigration into yellow-bellied marmot colonies
Effects of patch quality and network structure on patch occupancy dynamics of a yellow-bellied marmot metapopulation
Social group size predicts the evolution of individuality
Estimating the effect of temporal autocorrelated environments on the demography of density-independent age-structured populations
Transitivity and structural balance in marmot social networks
Resting and field metabolic rates of adult male yellow-bellied marmots, Marmota flaviventris
More social female yellow-bellied marmots have enhanced summer survival
Is social plasticity good? Does lifetime social variation enhance LRS and longevity in yellow-bellied marmots?
Take only pictures, leave only... Cameras influence marmot vigilance but not perceptions of risk
Development and structure of boldness and aggression in yellow-bellied marmots
Olfactory predator discrimination in yellow-bellied marmots
Vernal behaviour of the yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris)
Ontogeny and symmetry of social partner choice among free-living yellow-bellied marmots
Does Stress Explain Variation in Marmot Parenting Behavior or Pup Survival?
Sociality and individual fitness in yellow-bellied marmots: insights from a long-term study (1962-2001)
Environmental, social, morphological and behavioural constraints on opportunistic multiple paternity
Spatiotemporal variation in survival of male yellow-bellied marmots
Badger predation on yellow-bellied marmots
Mixed support for state maintaining risky personality traits in yellow-bellied marmots
Gene expression shifts in yellow-bellied marmots prior to natal dispersal
Lifetime reproductive success of territorial yellow-bellied marmots
Kinship, reproductive strategies, and social dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots
Long-term effects of litter sex ratio on female reproduction in two iteroparous mammals
Social behavior and population dynamics of marmots
Intraspecific variation in marmots
Do yellow-bellied marmots perceive enhanced predation risk when they are farther from safety?: an experimental study
A test of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis in four species of marmots
The function of kin discrimination
Climate change and the conservation of marmots
Circannual rhythms of food consumption, body mass, and metabolism in yellow-bellied marmots
Population changes and social behavior following colonization by the yellow-bellied marmot
Extending the social cohesion hypothesis: Is group cohesion associated with dispersal?
Why do yellow-bellied marmots call?
Longevity can buffer plant and animal populations against changing climatic uncertainty.
Costs and benefits of sociality in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>): do noncolonial females have lower fitness?
Extending the social cohesion hypothesis: is group social structure associated with dispersal in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer)?
Oxygen consumption and body temperature in yellow-bellied marmot populations from montane-mesic and lowland-xeric environments
Observations on plant choice by foraging yellow-bellied marmots
Differences in gut microbes across age and sex linked to metabolism and microbial stability in a wild hibernating mammal
Biodiversity in marmots
Factors affecting oxygen consumption in wild-caught yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris)
Exploring the behavioral rules influencing sociality in a facultatively social species, yellow-bellied marmots
The yellow-bellied marmot and the evolution of polygamy
Genetic basis of between-individual and within-individual variance of docility
Is flight initiation distance associated with longer-term survival in yellow-bellied marmots (<i> Marmota flaviventer </i>)?
Patterns of parasite prevalence and individual infection in yellow-bellied marmots.
Ontogenetic variation of heritability and maternal effects in yellow-bellied marmot alarm calls.
Evolving communicative complexity: insights from rodents and beyond
Factors affecting corticosteroid concentrations in yellow-bellied marmots
Genetic variation in social mammals: the marmot model
Behavioral responses of yellow-bellied marmots to birds and mammals
Effects of spontaneous movement on alert distance and flight initiation distance in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris)
Bottlenecks and rescue effects in a fluctuating population of golden-mantled ground squirrels (<i>Spermophilus lateralis</i>)
Predicted fitness consequences of threat-sensitive hiding behavior
<i> Firmicutes </i> and <i> Bacteroidetes </i> explain mass gain variation in an obligate hibernator
What is the sound of fear? Behavioral responses of white-crownded sparrows Zonotrichia leucophrys to synthesized nonlinear acoustic phenomena
Investigating the role of climate on juvenile Golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis) growth and behavior
Take only pictures, leave only… Cameras influence marmot vigilance but not perceptions of risk
Behavioral strategies of golden-mantled ground squirrels, <i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>
Determinants of multiple paternity in a fluctuating population of ground squirrels
Yellow-bellied marmot hiding time is sensitive to variation in costs
Marmots do not consistently use their left eye to respond to an approaching threat but those that did fled sooner
Reproductive energetics of adult male yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Yellow-bellied marmots as prey of coyotes
The potential to encode sex, age, and individual identity in the alarm calls of three species of Marmotinae
Field validation of a distribution model for the yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris).
Ontogenetic and sex differences influence alarm call responses in mammals: A meta-analysis
Social mating system and sex-biased dispersal in mammals and birds: a phylogenetic analysis.
Effects of trophic phenological synchrony or dyssynchrony on maternal investment of a small herbivorous mammal (Callospermophilus lateralis)
Empirical studies of escape behavior find mixed support for the race for life model
Marmots and coyotes: behavior of prey and predator
Functional relationships between early play behavior and adult dominance roles in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Inter-specific variation in avian responses to human disturbance
Masculinized female yellow-bellied marmots initiate more social interactions
Early-life trade-offs in golden-mantled ground squirrel sociality and growth rate
Mule deer (<i>Odocoileus hemionus</i>) respond to yellow-bellied marmot (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>) alarm calls
An integrative study of marmot responses to ecotourism
Breeding bird density does not drive vocal individuality
Social complexity but not the acoustic environment is responsible for the evolution of complex alarm communication
Are vigilance and flight initiation distance correlated in yellow-bellied marmots?
Examining the effects of environmental variation on sociality in yellow-bellied marmots utilizing a within-individual centering approach
Estimating the heritability of female dispersal in yellow-bellied marmots
Diverse cressdnaviruses and an anellovirus identified in the fecal samples of yellow-bellied marmots
The depredation of Mountain White-crowned Sparrow (<i>Zonotrichia leucophyrys oriantha</i>) nests by the golden-mantled ground squirrel (<i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>) and long-tailed weasel (<i>Mustela frenata</i>)
The effect of body condition of yellow-bellied marmots on time allocation to vigilance and food acquisition while foraging
Comparative life-cycle analyses reveal interacting climatic and biotic drivers of population responses to climate change
The importance of parasitism and body condition in explaining variation in anti-predator vigilance in the yellow bellied marmot (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Ectoparasites, fitness, and social behaviour of yellow-bellied marmots
Variation in vigilance of yellow-bellied marmots due to predator pressure
Maternal effects on anogenital distance in a wild marmot population
Early season arboreal behaviour in yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventris</i>)
Do Social Interactions Decrease Basal Stress Levels In Breeding Female Yellow-Bellied Marmots?
Who pays? Intra- versus inter-generational costs of reproduction
The effects of altitude on the life history characteristics of yellow-bellied marmots <i>(Marmota flaviventris)</i>
Factors that affect the repeatability of personality in yellow-bellied marmots, <i>Marmota flaviventris</i>
Scared and less noisy: glucocorticoids are associated with alarm call entropy
Olfactory predator discrimination in yellow-bellied marmots
Density effects on juvenile female dispersal in a population of golden-mantled ground squirrels
White-Crowned Sparrow respond to the alarm calls of local species but do not discriminate among them
Comparing the level of human disturbance in 2009 and 2018 at yellow-bellied marmot (<i>Marmota flaviventer</i>) colonies
Defining yellow-bellied marmot social groups using association indices
Adaptive strategies and diversity in marmots
Sex differences in the play behavior of yearling yellow-bellied marmots
Individual differences in the behavior of juvenile yellow-bellied marmots
Habitat Quality Affecting the Body Mass of Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels
Human activity affects the perception of risk by mule deer
Social dynamics of mammals: reproductive success, kinship, and individual fitness
Some quantitative aspects of the behavior of marmots
Fur color diversity in marmots
The flush early and avoid the rush hypothesis holds after accounting for spontaneous behavior
Distance to a road is associated with reproductive success and physiological stress response in a migratory landbird
A critical evaluation of subjective ratings: unacquainted observers can reliably assess personality
Assessing anthropogenic effects on golden-mantled ground squirrel and least chipmunk flight initiation distances
Do yellow-bellied marmots respond to predator vocalisations?
Biodiversity in marmots
Sex differences in play behavior, personality, and philopatry in golden-mantled ground squirrels (<i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>)
Time budget of yellow-bellied marmots at high and low elevations
Detection, prevalence and phylogenetic relationships of <i>Demodex</i> spp and further skin prostigmata mites (Acari, Arachnida) in wild and domestic mammals
Developing an evolutionary ecology of fear: how life history and natural history traits affect disturbance tolerance in birds
Determining whether tourist abundance and reproductive status predispose golden-mantled ground squirrels (<i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>) to vehicular accidents
The effect of human activity on the vigilance rates of <i>Spermophilis lateralis</i> and <i>Tamias minimus</i>
Microvirus Genomes Identified in Fecal Samples from Yellow - Bellied Marmots
Behavioral responses of white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) to synthesized nonlinear phenomena
Heritability of Maternal Investment in Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels (<i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>)
The effect of human pressure on the flight initiation of montane breeding birds throughout the summer breeding season
Nesting activities of yellow-bellied marmots
Does breeding bird density drive vocal individuality?
Predation by badger on yellow-bellied marmot in Colorado
Immune system activation affects song and territorial defense
Detecting between-individual differences in hind-foot length in populations of wild animals
Age effects on yellow-bellied marmot <i> (Marmota flaviventris)</i> maximum running speed
Behavioral syndromes in yellow-bellied marmots, <i>Marmota flaviventris</i>: Is there a correlation between boldness and exploration?
Home-range size and exploratory excursions of adult, male yellow-bellied marmots
Female choice in true bugs (Homoptera: Miridae)
Adaptive strategies and diversity in marmots
Social behavior and space-use of ground-dwelling squirrel species with different levels of sociality
Can yellow-bellied marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventer</i>) learn foraging innovations?
Consistency of individual foraging and vigilance patterns in Yellow-Bellied marmots
Investigating patterns of juvenile dispersal in golden mantled ground squirrels, <i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>
Energy allocation by yellow-bellied marmots
Inter- and intraspecific variation in the acoustic habitats of three marmot species
Rodent societies
The evolution of functionally referential alarm communication: multiple adaptations; multiple constraints
Cumulative adversity and survival in the wild
Wild marmots’ social networks reveal controversial evolutionary theory in action
Prey responses to predator’s sounds: a review and empirical study.
A trait-based approach to the evolution of complex coalitions in male mammals
How does relative refuge angle influence escape behavior: an empirical test with yellow-bellied marmot.
Do female yellow-bellied marmots adjust the sex ratios of their offspring?
Social transmission of a novel foraging trait in yellow-bellied marmots
The behavioral influence of nonlinear sound in Lincoln's Sparrow
The effect of body size and habitat on the evolution of alarm vocalizations in rodents.
Evidence for fine scale adjustments in circadian rhythms in yellow-bellied marmots according to burrow location, photoperiod, and local ambient temperature
Lateralized Function Without Lateralization
The Effects of Distance From a Yellow-Bellied Marmot Burrow on Plant Diversity
Structure and location of burrows of yellow-bellied marmot
Oxytocin experiments shed light on mechanisms shaping prosocial and antisocial behaviors in non-human mammals
Phylogeny and patterns of energy conservation in marmots
Avian Risk Assessment: Effects of perching height and detectability
Obituary: Kenneth Barclay Armitage (1925—2022)
Social dynamics of juvenile marmots: role of kinship and individual variability
Pre-dispersal seed predation by <i>Hylema</i> (Delia) sp. (Diptera: Anthomyiidae): mechanisms and consequences of oviposition choice
Testing predictions of the coexistence of golden-mantled ground squirrels, <i>Spermophilus lateralis</i>, and least chipmunks, <i>Tamias minimus</i>, in meadows with various distances from cover
Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel (<i> Spermophilus lateralis </i>) and Yellow-Bellied Marmot ( <i> Marmota flaviventris </i>) Intraspecific and Interspecific Perch Use and Interaction Dynamics in Gothic, Colorado
Holarctic marmots as a factor of biodiversity
A test of the nonlinearity hypothesis: Is noise any different than deterministic chaos?
The value of dihydrogen monoxide to a jumping mouse: habitat use and preference in <i>Zapus princeps</i>.
Can breeding bird density influence vocal individuality in bird song?
Multisensory perception in uncertain environments
Holarctic Marmots as a Factor of Biodiversity
Tradeoffs between mounting an immune response and territorial singing behavior in mountain white-crowned sparrows
METHODS: Validating an immunoassay to measure fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in yellow-bellied marmots
Archiving primary data: solutions for long-term studies.
Patterns of ectoparasite prevalence in the mountain white-crowned sparrow, <i></i>Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha<i></i>
Do birds differentiate between white noise and deterministic chaos?
Do mule deer respond to the sounds of their predators?
Holarctic marmots as a factor of biodiversity
Cannibalism among yellow-bellied marmots
Natural security: a darwinian approach to a dangerous world
Behavioral correlates of innovation success in facultatively social marmots (<i>Marmota flaviventer</i>)
How demographic factors affect ground squirrel susceptibility to motor vehicle collisions
Food selectivity by yellow-bellied marmots
The effects of adult removal on dispersal of yearling yellow-bellied marmots
Vigilance in the golden-mantled ground squirrel (<i>Spermophilus lateralis</i>): effect of age and distance to human-created structures
Optimal multisensory integration
Olfactory predator discrimination abilities of yellow-bellied marmots <i>(Marmota flaviventris)</i>
Road impacts on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, with emphasis on effects to surface- and shallow ground-water hydrology - A literature review
Do birds differentiate white noise and deterministic chaos? A playback experiment.
Foraging behavior of parasitized and non-parasitized voles during new moon and full moon events
Can rarefaction be used to estimate song repertoire size in birds?
Food habits of two sympatric Colorado sciurids
Caloric content of Rocky Mountain subalpine and Alpine Plants
Hematological values for free-ranging yellow-bellied marmots
Consuming ideals: an archaeological investigation of the Social Hygiene Movement in Colorado
Aboveground productivity and floristic structure of a high subalpine herbaceous meadow
Effects of nestling begging behavior on parental food provisioning in the Mountain White-crowned Sparrow
Effects of intra-peritoneal transmitter implants on yellow-bellied marmots
Are juvenile female golden mantle ground squirrels dispersing from their natal burrow due to high-stress levels?
The annual cycle and fat storage in two populations of golden-mantled ground squirrels
Water budgets of montane-mesic and lowland-xeric populations of yellow-bellied marmots
Is the hepatitis virus absent from yellow-bellied marmots?
Skiing for science
Long-distance dispersal to the mining frontier in late 19th century Colorado
Detectability, philopatry, and the distribution of dispersal distances in vertebrates
Scent-marking in the yellow-bellied marmot <i>Marmota flaviventris</i>
Plasma and white adipose tissue lipid composition in marmots
Problems in the use of genetic similarity to show relatedness
The Exploration of the Colorado River
Harvest rates and escape speeds in two coexisting species of montane ground squirrels
Subsurface Geologic Cross Section from Baca County to Yuma County, Colorado
Techniques for immobilizing and bleeding marmots and woodrats
Heart rates of free-ranging yellow-bellied marmots
Microdistributions, food resources and feeding habits of filter-feeding Trichoptera in the Upper Colorado River
The effects of kidney structure and the annual cycle on water requirements in golden-mantled ground squirrels and chipmunks
Lumbricid Earthworm Populations in a Colorado Mountain River
Enzyme polymorphism and biosystematics: the hypothesis of selective neutrality
Thermoregulation and water requirements in semiarid and montane populations of the least chipmunk, Eutamias minimus. III. Acclimatization at a high ambient temperature
Enzyme polymorphism and metabolism
Interment behavior in the yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris)
Dataset (27) →
Data from: Individual life histories: Neither slow nor fast, just diverse
The slow-fast continuum is known to structure variation in life-history strategies across species. Within populations, it is also assumed to structure...
Demographic consequences of changes in environmental periodicity
The fate of natural populations is mediated by complex interactions among vital rates, which can vary within and among years. While the effects of ran...
Marmot capture history data and growing season length data
Seasonal environmental conditions shape the behavior and life history of virtually all organisms. Climate change is modifying these seasonal environme...
Data from: Strong social relationships are associated with decreased longevity in a facultatively social mammal
Humans in strong social relationships are more likely to live longer because social relationships may buffer stressors and thus have protective effect...
Data from: A cost of being amicable in a hibernating marmot
Amicable social interactions can enhance fitness in many species, have negligible consequences for some, and reduce fitness in others. For yellow-bell...
R code for Demographic consequences of changing environmental periodicity
These R scripts contain the code to replicate the analyses performed in Demographic consequences of changing environmental periodicity , Ecology. Vita...
Data from: Cumulative reproductive costs on current reproduction in a wild polytocous mammal
The cumulative cost of reproduction hypothesis predicts that reproductive costs accumulate over an individual’s reproductive lifespan. While short-ter...
Marmot mass gain rates relate to their group’s social structure
Mass gain is an important fitness correlate for survival in highly seasonal species. While many physiological, genetic, life history, and environmenta...
Data from: Age, state, environment and season dependence of senescence in body mass
[No abstract entered]
Life history consequences of climate change in hibernating mammals: A review
Climatic shifts to warmer and often drier conditions are challenging terrestrial species worldwide. These shifts are occurring more rapidly at highe...
Show 17 more datasets
Relatedness matrix
This data file contains a matrix of genetic kinship for the 43 individual marmots analyzed in this study. Kinship was calculated as pair-wise relatedn...
Social Behavior and Population Dynamics of Yellow-bellied Marmots 1965 and Continuing after 2001.
<p>These data continue and expand upon data collected by Kenneth B. Armitage titled, " Social Behavior and Population Dynamics of Yellow-bellied Marmo...
Maternal survival costs in an asocial mammal: Data and analysis
Maternal characteristics, social dynamics, and environmental factors can all influence reproduction and survival as well as shape trade-offs that mi...
Trait data for the 43 individuals/RNA samples
This data file contains trait information concerning the 43 individual marmots, or their blood samples (one per individual), analyzed in this study. M...
Pedigree
Pruned pedigree including only individuals with docility data and their ancestors.
Gothic (CO) Euphydryas gillettii vital rates 1981-1985, 2002-2004
Data were collected during July-September in 1981 through 1985 and during June-September 2002 through 2004. Mark-release-recapture was done for adult ...
Supplementary material from "The social microbiome: gut microbiome diversity and abundance are negatively associated with sociality in a wild mammal"
The gut microbiome has a well-documented relationship with host fitness. Greater microbial diversity and abundance of specific microbes have been asso...
Data from: No evidence of inbreeding avoidance despite demonstrated survival costs in a polygynous rodent
Individuals are generally predicted to avoid inbreeding because of detrimental fitness effects. However, several recent studies have shown that limi...
Docility data
Data including docility scores, trial number (scaled), day of the year (scaled), time of the day (0: AM; 1:PM), age (0:juveniles, 1: yearlings; 2:adul...
Genetic basis of between-individual and within-individual variance of docility
Between-individual variation in phenotypes within a population is the basis of evolution. However, evolutionary and behavioural ecologists have mainly...
marmot_ipm_transientLTRE: First release
Code as implemented in the paper "Transient LTRE analysis reveals the demographic and trait mediated processes that buffer population growth"
MariaPaniw/Comparative-demography-project: comp_demo_scale_up
This release provides access to detailed vital-rate and population models of 41species of mammals, birds, and plants and allows to replicate all analy...
Humpback chub (Gila cypha) capture histories and growth data for two areas in the Colorado River network from 2009-2022 and 2017-2022
These data were compiled for a manuscript entitled 'Vital rates of a burgeoning population of Humpback Chub in western Grand Canyon. Objective(s) of o...
Supplementary material from "Multilevel selection on individual and group social behaviour in the wild"
How phenotypes are shaped by multilevel selection – the theoretical framework proposing natural selection occurs at more than one level of biological ...
Supplementary material from "Emergent social structure is typically not associated with survival in a facultatively social mammal"
For social animals, group social structure has important consequences for disease and information spread. While prior studies showed individual connec...
igraph for R: R interface of the igraph library for graph theory and network analysis
Testing Tweak tests that use the graph package.
Data and Code for "Detecting context-dependence in the expression of life history tradeoffs"
This repository hosts the data, R scripts, and Stan models needed to reproduce results and figures from the article Detecting context-dependence in th...