ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2008
The physiological costs of reproduction in small mammals.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 278 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
278 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Intraspecific Trait Variation in the Mammalian Gastrointestinal Tract: A Digestive Dive and Systematic Literature Review.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Pooled it
- Little appetite for obesity: meta-analysis of the effects of maternal obesogenic diets on offspring food intake and body mass in rodents.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2015Pooled it
- Total Immunoglobulin G Variation Through the Phenological Cycle of Migrant and Resident Lesser Long-Nosed Bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) in the Drylands of Mexico and Its Relationship With Bacterial Killing-Ability of Plasma.Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2026Article
- Energy constraint on human health.Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM · 2026Review
- Does energy minimisation constrain behavioural plasticity? Long-term activity budgets of a model folivore-frugivore.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- A comprehensive analysis of the prevalence and influencing factors of felid alphaherpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) in mainland China from 2017 to 2024.Journal of veterinary science · 2026Article
- Article
- Comparative Analysis of Production Performance and Physiological Responses in Snowy White Chickens Reared at Different Altitudes.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Asymmetric life-history trade-offs shape sex-biased longevity patterns.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Bat-Inspired Longevity: Immune Damage Management and Nutritional Modulation for Healthy Aging.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Molecular mechanisms underlying opportunistic seasonal reproduction in the male rodent pest Arvicola terrestris scherman.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Monitoring reproduction in cryptic small mammals; using body temperature to identify parturition in an endangered rodent.Biology open · 2026Article
- The Effect of Social Rank on Reproductive Traits Depends on Rank Metric: Evidence From a Group-Living Carnivore.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Integrating Lab- and Field-Based Approaches to Decipher Individuals' Response to Anthropogenic Change.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Seasonal body mass dynamics mediate life-history trade-offs in a hibernating mammal.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Costs of maternal care revealed through body conditionin Northern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The ecology of gestational growth in a wild cooperative mammal.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Mating regulates growth, metabolism, and digestive efficiency in the femaleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Indirect effects of higher mean air temperature related to climate change on major life-history traits in a pulsed-resource consumer.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Identifying pleiotropic genes for backfat thickness and semen traits in pigs using GWAS summary data.Journal of animal science · 2026Article
218 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Life-history trade-offs between components of fitness arise because reproduction entails both gains and costs. Costs of reproduction can be divided into ecological and physiological costs. The latter have been rarely studied yet are probably a dominant component of the effect. A deeper understanding of life-history evolution will only come about once these physiological costs are better understood. Physiological costs may be direct or indirect. Direct costs include the energy and nutrient demands of the reproductive event, and the morphological changes that are necessary to facilitate achieving these demands. Indirect costs may be optional 'compensatory costs' whereby the animal chooses to reduce investment in some other aspect of its physiology to maximize the input of resource to reproduction. Such costs may be distinguished from consequential costs that are an inescapable consequence of the reproductive event. In small mammals, the direct costs of reproduction involve increased energy, protein and calcium demands during pregnancy, but most particularly during lactation. Organ remodelling is necessary to achieve the high demands of lactation and involves growth of the alimentary tract and associated organs such as the liver and pancreas. Compensatory indirect costs include reductions in thermogenesis, immune function and physical activity. Obligatory consequential costs include hyperthermia, bone loss, disruption of sleep patterns and oxidative stress. This is unlikely to be a complete list. Our knowledge of these physiological costs is currently at best described as rudimentary. For some, we do not even know whether they are compensatory or obligatory. For almost all of them, we have no idea of exact mechanisms or how these costs translate into fitness trade-offs.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.