Cape ground squirrel site comparison dataset

Male mating strategies respond to female availability such that variation in resources that affect spatial distribution can also alter cost-benefit tradeoffs within a population. In arid-adapted species, rainfall alters reproduction, behavior, morphology, and population density such that populations differing in resource availability may also differ in successful reproductive strategies. Here we compare two populations of Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris), a sub-Saharan species with year-round breeding and intense mating competition. Unlike most mammals where males resort to aggressive interactions over females, male X. inauris are tolerant of one another, relying instead on other non-aggressive pre- and post-copulatory strategies to determine reproductive success. Our findings suggest that differences in resource availability affect female distribution which ultimately leads to intraspecific variation in male reproductive tactics and sexual morphology. Sperm competition, assessed b...