Abstract
Body condition integrates the effects of habitat on individuals and consequently population performance of cervids. However, most condition data is likely to come from harvested males, which may not reflect absolute condition of, or habitat quality for, adult females because of basic ecological differences. To test whether condition of males reflected condition of females, we compared three indices of nutritional condition (rump body condition score, maximum subcutaneous fat thickness, and percent body fat) of adult male, lactating adult female, and dry adult female mule deer over multiple years in 2 sites in New Mexico, USA. Males consistently achieved significantly higher levels of condition than females for all indices of condition, regardless of whether indices for males were scaled for metabolic size or not. Because population productivity and rate-of-increase is driven by condition and consequent performance of females, population monitoring strategies that assess only condition of males may not reflect absolute condition of females and thus habitat quality as it fundamentally relates to population dynamics of cervids. Condition of males, however, can likely index relative habitat quality if not absolute.
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Funding
This project received funding and cooperation from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish; US Department of Defense (White Sands Missile Range); US Fish and Wildlife Service (San Andres National Wildlife Refuge); US Bureau of Land Management (Las Cruces Field Office); US Forest Service (Rocky Mountain Research Station); and the New Mexico State University, Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station. All project activities were in accordance with NMSU IACUC reviews 2003–023, 2005–023, and 2009–027.
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Communicated by: Magdalena Niedziałkowska.
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Bender, L.C., Boren, J.C., Cox, S. et al. Does condition of adult male cervids reflect condition of adult females? A test with mule deer. Mamm Res 66, 595–602 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-021-00579-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-021-00579-2