Download or read book Life history Characteristics of Mule Deer written by Kevin L. Monteith and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vital rates of large herbivores normally respond to increased resource limitation by following a progressive sequence of effects on life-history characteristics from survival of young, age at first reproduction, reproduction of adults, to adult survival. Expected changes in life-history characteristics, however, should operate through changes in nutritional condition, which is the integrator of nutritional intake and demands represented primarily by the deposition and catabolism of body fat. Elucidating seasonal patterns of nutritional condition and its relative influence on individual and population performance should improve our understanding of life-history strategies and population regulation of ungulates, provide insight into the capacity of available habitat to support population growth, and allow assessment of the underlying consequences of mortality on population dynamics. We acquired longitudinal data on individual female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and linked those data with environmental and population characteristics. Our goal was to provide a nutritional basis for understanding lifehistory strategies of these large mammals, and to aid in the conservation and management of large herbivores in general. We studied a migratory population of mule deer that overwintered in Round Valley on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, and was subject to a highly variable climate and predation from a suite of large carnivores. We intensively monitored nutritional and life-history characteristics of this population during 1997-2009 as it recovered from a population crash, which occurred during 1985-1991. Deer in Round Valley migrated to high-elevation summer ranges on both sides of the crest of the Sierra Nevada (Sierra crest), where a rain shadow resulted in a mesic and more forested range on the west side compared with xeric conditions east of the Sierra crest. Average survival of neonatal mule deer to 140 days of age during 2006-2008 was 0.33 (SE1/40.091), but was lower for neonates on the west side (0.13, SE1/40.092) compared with those on the east side (0.44, SE1/40.11) of the Sierra crest. Birth mass and nutritional condition of mothers had a positive effect on survival of young; however, those effects were evident only for neonates born east of the crest where predation pressure was less intense compared with the west side. Black bear (Ursus americanus) predation was the main cause of mortality for west-side young (mortality rate1/40.63, SE1/40.97) compared with canid and felid predation for east-side young (0.29, SE1/40.076). Mean autumn recruitment of young during 1997-2008 was lower for females on the west side (0.42, SE1/40.037) than for females on the east side (0.70, SE1/40.041) of the crest, and was affected positively by March ingesta-free body fat (IFBFat) of individual females. At the level of the population, ratios of young-to-adult females (1991-2009) were highly variable and strongly related to March IFBFat of adult females during the current and preceding year. Reproduction by yearling females was sensitive to per capita availability of forage during summer (as 1-yr-old individuals), thereby influencing whether a sufficient body mass for ovulation was obtained. Litter size remained high (1.69, SE1/40.027) during the study, but was influenced positively by forage availability, negatively by summer temperature, and was greater for females that resided on the west side of the Sierra crest during summer than those on the east side. In contrast, pregnancy rates remained unchanged across years of study (0.98, SE1/40.005). Survival of prime-age (2- to 9-yr-old) females was 0.90 (SE1/40.021) in summer, 0.94 (SE1/40.012) in winter, and 0.87 (SE1/40.025) annually. Although relatively stable across years, both winter and summer survival were influenced positively by the preceding April snowpack relative to the density of the population. Mean IFBFat of adult females was 7.2% (SE1/40.077) in March 1997-2009 and 9.7% (SE1/40.23) in November 2002-2008. Nutritional condition offered a mechanistic link between factors that influence resource limitation and population performance, because condition of adult females in autumn and late winter was sensitive to the nutritional history of individual animals as related to forage growth, population density, migratory tactic, reproductive costs, and nutritional carryover. Nutritional condition of adult females in March also was the most parsimonious predictor of finite rate of population growth (l) during the forthcoming year. The relative magnitude of effect of nutritional condition on survival and reproduction was mostly in accordance with the predicted changes of vital rates in response to resource limitation for populations of large herbivores. Our results indicate that management and conservation of large herbivore populations could be improved by integrating indices of nutritional condition into current monitoring and research programs. We offer a method to estimate the proximity of a population to nutritional carrying capacity (NCC) that is based on nutritional status of the population relative to population performance (termed animal-indicated NCC). The proximity of the population to animal-indicated NCC represents the short-term capacity of the environment to support population growth. A nutritional approach to monitor and manage populations offers a direct link to the capacity of the habitat, and reduces the need to estimate population abundance or set goals according to population size. We also propose that the consequences of mortality (degree of additive or compensatory mortality) on population dynamics can be assessed by comparing the estimated nutritional capacity for survival and recruitment of young to that measured empirically, because more young are produced than what the habitat can support when nutrition is limiting. Our approach is useful for quantifying effects of predation, and provides a basis for determining the efficacy of predator control to enhance ungulate populations.
Download or read book Life history Characteristics of Mule Deer written by Kevin Lee Monteith and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Some Life History Characteristics and Habitat Use of Mule Deer in the Sacramento Mountains written by Timothy A. Eicher and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Density Trends Some Life History Characteristics and Morphology of Mule Deer in the Sacramento Mountains written by Victoria Malmgren Mello and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Study of the Life History and Food Habits of Mule Deer in California written by Joseph Scattergood Dixon and published by . This book was released on 1934 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mule Deer written by United States. Bureau of Land Management and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mule Deer Habitat Guides written by Richard M. Kerr and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Fort Stanton Mule Deer Herd written by John E. Wood and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Mule Deer Its History Life History and Management in Utah written by Temple A. Reynolds and published by . This book was released on 1960 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Characteristics of Shrubland Habitat Associated with Mule Deer Fawns at Birth and During Early Life in Southeastern Oregon written by Dennis P. Sheehy and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Fort Stanton Mule Deer Herd written by John E. Wood and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ecology and Management of Black tailed and Mule Deer of North America written by James R. Heffelfinger and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2023-04-27 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black-tailed and mule deer represent one of the largest distributions of mammals in North America and are symbols of the wide-open American West. Each chapter in this book was authored by the world’s leading experts on that topic. Both editors, James R. Heffelfinger and Paul R. Krausman, are widely published in the popular and scientific press and recipients of the O. C. Wallmo Award, given every two years to a leading black-tailed and mule deer expert who has made significant contributions to the conservation of this species. In addition, Heffelfinger has chaired the Mule Deer Working Group sponsored by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies for more than 15 years. This working group consists of the leading black-tailed and mule deer experts from each of 24 states, provinces, and territories in western North America, putting them at the forefront of all conservation and much of the research on this species. The book represents all current knowledge available on these deer, including how changing conditions such as fires, habitat alteration and loss, disease, climate change, socio-economic forces, energy development, and other aspects are influencing their distribution and abundance now and into the future. It takes a completely fresh look at all chapter topics. The revisions of distribution, taxonomy, evolution, behavior, and new and exciting work being done in deer nutrition, migration and movements, diseases, predation, and human dimensions are all assembled in this volume. This book will instantly become the foundation for the latest information and management strategies to be implemented on the ground by practitioners and to inform the public. Although this book is about deer, the topics discussed influence most terrestrial wildlife worldwide, and the basic concepts in many of the chapters are applicable to other species.
Download or read book Sika Deer Life History Plasticity and Management written by Koichi Kaji and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-06-20 with total page 629 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides complete and up-to-date information on sika deer biology and its management, focusing on their life history with an integrated approach of population dynamics, morphology, genetics, and evolution. The expanding distribution of sika and its increase in population in Japan and other countries are causing damage to agriculture and forestry, impacting ecosystems and affecting other species. We are facing conflicting deer issues regarding the conservation of resource values and pest control of sika deer. This contributed volume compiles new findings focusing on the ecological plasticity of the sika deer. It aims to clarify the ecological characteristics of the deer by integrating studies of different approaches and provides a perspective for their management. The book consists of six parts. Part I introduces the ecological and management background behind the history of sika deer. The following four parts discuss movement ecology (Part II), impact on vegetation and bottom-up effect on sika deer (Part III), impact on ecosystem and its resilience (Part IV), and comparison of life-history characteristics between sika deer and other ungulate species (Part V). The last part (Part VI) covers the science-based management of sika deer. Contributed by recognized experts and young researchers of sika deer, this book appeals to researchers and professionals in wildlife biology and wildlife management, evolution, population dynamics, morphology, genetics, and reproductive physiology.
Download or read book Deer of the Southwest written by Jim Heffelfinger and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author Jim Heffelfinger presents a wide array of data in a reader-friendly, well-organized way. With a clear mission to make his information not only helpful, but entertaining and attractive as well, each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of understanding deer. The clear, detailed table of contents will help readers flip right to the section they want to investigate. Not just hunters, but anyone who is interested in the deer of West Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, southern California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, northern Mexico, or tribal lands will find this book to be an indispensable resource for understanding these familiar and fascinating animals. “Very few books on the subject of deer in any particular region lend themselves to being complete. Jim Heffelfinger’s book breaks the mold. It is by far the most comprehensive book on mule deer and white-tailed deer in the southwestern part of the United States, including Plains portions of Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, I’ve ever read. Everything you ever wanted to know about these two deer species can be found in its pages . . . All of this under one cover and written in a style easy enough for the layperson to understand, but scientific enough for the professional biologist . . . Deer of the Southwest is a pleasure to read and should be part of every deer enthusiast’s library.”—Great Plains Research “An important reference for anyone interested in deer in the Southwest—managers and enthusiasts alike. Both enlightening and instructive, Deer of the Southwest is the ultimate source for understanding the history, management, and issues facing this resource. Jim Heffelfinger has solidified his reputation as the premier authority on deer in this region.”—Barry Hale, deer program manager, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Download or read book A Study of His Life History and Food Habits of Mule Deer in California written by Joseph Scattergood Dixon and published by . This book was released on with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Evolution of Senescence in the Tree of Life written by Richard P. Shefferson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The existing theories on the evolution of senescence assume that senescence is inevitable in all organisms. However, recent studies have shown that this is not necessarily true. A better understanding of senescence and its underlying mechanisms could have far-reaching consequences for conservation and eco-evolutionary research. This book is the first to offer interdisciplinary perspectives on the evolution of senescence in many species, setting the stage for further developments. It brings together new insights from a wide range of scientific fields and cutting-edge research done on a multitude of different animals (including humans), plants and microbes, giving the reader a complete overview of recent developments and of the controversies currently surrounding the topic. Written by specialists from a variety of disciplines, this book is a valuable source of information for students and researchers interested in ageing and life history traits and populations.
Download or read book Mule Deer Demographics and Parturition Site Selection written by Anthony Paul Bush and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing permanent sources of water to benefit wildlife where this resource is limited has been a common management tactic since the 1940s. Effects of water provisioning on vital rates, corresponding life-history characteristics, and resulting population dynamics have been difficult to quantify. I used a population of mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) in 3 treatment areas with differing levels of permanently available water in Mojave National Preserve, California to investigate population-level responses to provision of water from 2009 to 2014. I investigated the effects of provision of water on pregnancy and fetal rates as well as adult and neonate survival. In addition I investigated the influence of provision of water on parturition sites resource selection patterns. I identified no effect of provision of water on demographic rates. Furthermore, insufficient sample size prevented investigating differences in parturition site resource selection between study areas. I identified a positive effect of body condition, and a negative effect of timing of birth on neonatal survival. Adult survival differed between years, and within years survival differed during the May-June fawning period and was affected by drought conditions. Mule deer in this study system placed parturition sites at higher elevations, and in closer proximity to permanent water sources than random locations, and selected areas with intermediate levels (30-50%) of shrub canopy cover.
