In European ground squirrels Spermophilus citellus as in many ground squirr
el species, late born litters are composed of fewer young than early born l
itters. Two alternative though not mutually exclusive hypotheses may explai
n this seasonal pattern of change in litter size. On the one hand, the prod
uction of few large young late in the season may be an adaptation to time l
imitations on the offspring, that have to complete growth and fattening pri
or to hibernation. Then one would expect a trade-off between offspring numb
er and size as the breeding season progresses. At its extreme, this hypothe
sis would predict that total maternal effort should be equal independent of
litter size. Alternatively, litter size may be determined by physiological
limitations on the mother, in that highly constrained mothers breed later
and produce smaller litters. Then one would expect reduced overall maternal
effort in highly constrained mothers of smaller litters. In this case, a t
rade-off between litter size and offspring size would not be expected. We f
ound that total maternal effort in terms of gestation length and the durati
on of lactation increased with increasing litter size, thus supporting the
second hypothesis. Lactation was not terminated at natal emergence. It exte
nded a relatively long period of time beyond the time of first litter emerg
ence depending on litter size. During prolonged lactation, individual young
of large litters made up body mass to young of small litters. As a consequ
ence, juvenile weaning body mass was unaffected by litter size although off
spring body mass at natal emergence was inversely related to litter size. T
his additional weight gain in young of large litters compensated for initia
l survival disadvantages and presumably affected fecundity at yearling age.