Capture method affects survival estimates and subsequent interpretation of ecological covariates for a long‐lived cervid

Brackel, Katherine L.; Michel, Eric; Gullikson, Bailey S.; Jenks, Jonathan A.; Jensen, William F.

doi:10.1002/ece3.7494

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We captured 50 female (>1.5-yr-old) white-tailed deer in each county by using aerial net-gunning from 24 February to 2 March 2014. We collected blood at time of capture and centrifuged it into cellular and serum fractions that were, respectively, discarded and frozen at –80 C. Vaginal implant transmitters (VITs; Advanced Telemetry Systems, Inc., Isanti, Minnesota, USA) were implanted at time of capture in a subset of 20 females to aid in neonate capture, help determine fawning habitat, and evaluate survival rates in each study area (Brackel et al 2021).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Investigation of Pathogen Exposure of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) and Survival of Associated Fawns in the Western Dakotas, Usa

Jensen,

Brackel,

Kaskie

et al. 2023

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exposure of a dam to pathogens may potentially affect her fawns positively or negatively. Mammalian females transfer immunologic protection to their offspring via colostrum obtained while nursing. Conversely, chronic diseases in dams may potentially result in small and weak neonates, reduced milk production or quality, or infection. Little is known about how pathogen exposure in adult female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) affects offspring survival. Our objective was to assess pathogen exposure for female white-tailed deer and subsequent survival rates of fawns in Dunn and Grant counties, North Dakota, and Perkins County, South Dakota, USA. We collected blood serum from 150 adult female deer during 2014. We compared survival of 49 fawns to maternal exposure to 10 pathogens from 37 of 150 adult females. There was no difference in fawn mass between dams based on antibody status and no difference in fawn survival for nine pathogens. The 12-wk survival for fawns born to mothers with antibodies against bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1, causing infectious bovine rhinotracheitis) was lower than for fawns born from mothers without antibodies against BoHV-1; however, the indirect or direct impacts of BoHV-1 exposure in mothers on fawn survival are unclear. Although our findings suggest that the cost of exposure to previous diseases may have minimal impact on short-term fawn survival for most pathogens, additional research with increased sample sizes is needed to confirm our findings.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Investigation of Pathogen Exposure of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) and Survival of Associated Fawns in the Western Dakotas, Usa

Jensen,

Brackel,

Kaskie

et al. 2023

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Evaluation of impacts of vaginal implant transmitter use in moose

McDonough

Thompson

Crouse

et al. 2022

Wildlife Society Bulletin

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) are a popular tool in ungulate parturition studies and have been used in moose (Alces alces), but their potential impact on animal performance has not been thoroughly assessed. We looked at potential short‐term impacts of VIT use on maternal condition through assessments of neonate calf mass, early calf survival, and parturition date. We also assessed long‐term impacts of VIT use on future reproduction and the inflammatory response after prolonged VIT retention through qualifying discharge at VIT removal and measures of acute phase proteins haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin. We captured 54 neonates and assessed over 900 potential parturition events of 278 adult moose over multiple years and we did not detect any evidence of a negative impact of VIT use on neonate calf mass, parturition date, or future reproduction. We did find elevated haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin levels in non‐pregnant individuals that had unintentional VIT retention past parturition, but this was not universal across all cases. We found a potential negative impact of VIT use on early calf survival which was likely driven by biased sampling. A bias can exist (i.e., left truncation) if sampling is mixed between cows that had a VIT (and, therefore, a known parturition time) and those without a VIT that were sampled opportunistically. Future evaluations need to overcome this bias when assessing early calf survival. With that caveat, we did not detect clear negative impacts of VIT use on moose and recommend late winter to early spring VIT insertion in pregnant females to minimize retention time.

show abstract

Are opportunistic captures of neonate ungulates biasing relative estimates of litter size?

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The capture of neonate ungulates allows for the collection of valuable ecological data, including estimates of litter size. However, varied methods used to capture neonate ungulates can result in sampling biases. Our objective was to determine if opportunistic captures of neonate ungulates (i.e., locating neonates by visually scanning for adult females displaying postpartum behaviors) bias relative estimates of litter size and investigate potential causes if a bias does exist. We analyzed data from 161 litters of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) sampled using three different capture methods during 2019–2021 in Utah, USA. Estimates of litter size derived from opportunistic captures were smaller than estimates derived from movement-based captures or captures completed with the aid of vaginal implant transmitters (VITs). Age at capture was inversely related to estimates of litter size and likely influenced the detection bias associated with opportunistic captures. Neonates captured opportunistically were not older than neonates captured using movement-based methods, but were older than neonates captured with the aid of VITs. Distance between neonates from the same litter did not influence estimates of litter size. Researchers should be aware of the biases associated with different capture methods and use caution when interpreting data among multiple capture methods. Estimates of litter size derived from opportunistic captures should not be compared to estimates of litter size derived from alternative capture methods without accounting for the detection bias we observed.

show abstract

Capture method affects survival estimates and subsequent interpretation of ecological covariates for a long‐lived cervid

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 3 publications

References 55 publications

A Preliminary Investigation of Pathogen Exposure of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) and Survival of Associated Fawns in the Western Dakotas, Usa

A Preliminary Investigation of Pathogen Exposure of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) and Survival of Associated Fawns in the Western Dakotas, Usa

Evaluation of impacts of vaginal implant transmitter use in moose

Are opportunistic captures of neonate ungulates biasing relative estimates of litter size?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About