Effects of culling on vigilance behaviour and endogenous stress response of female fallow deer

Pecorella, Ilaria; Ferretti, Francesco; Sforzi, Andrea; Macchi, Elisabetta

doi:10.1071/wr15118

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Our results show, as expected, highly variable plasma CORT levels ranging from 0.38 to 2.97 ng/mL. This is likely to be imputed to several "acute" factors and the variability of this hormone pattern itself [22,34]. On the other hand, hair CORT levels are the reflection of the continuous incorporation of the hormone into the hair shaft [15], and thus less influenced by acute stressors.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Cortisol (CORT) is another important hormone, generally used as stress marker also in wild animals [15], but the evaluation of its plasma concentrations is considered as poorly reliable since the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is instantaneously activated upon stressful stimuli, such as restraint and blood sampling [16]. This is partially why, in the last years, alternative matrices for hormones' and other analytes' quantification have been proposed, including hair and feces, capable of providing different information regarding a longer timespan [17][18][19], also in red deer [20,21] and other frequently hunted ungulates [22]. For example, fecal CORT was proven to increase during late pregnancy with 10-year old females showing higher levels in comparison to five-year old hinds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Progesterone and Cortisol Levels in Blood and Hair of Wild Pregnant Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) Hinds

Ventrella

Elmi

Bertocchi

et al. 2020

Animals

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The red deer (Cervus elaphus L., 1758) is one of the largest deer species in the world. Females are seasonal polyestrous, with negative photoperiod: the increase of the night peak of melatonin determines the secretion of GnRH and, therefore, LH and FSH. To date there is little information regarding the hormonal control during pregnancy for this species; this could be due to the difficulty of sampling wild subjects, while farmed animals’ hormonal concentrations may not reflect the physiology of the animal in a natural state. In this study we evaluated the concentration of cortisol and progesterone, extracted from blood and hair, on 10 wild and pregnant red deer females. Belonging to the population of the Bolognese Apennines (Italy), the hinds were sampled in the January–March 2018 period, according to the regional selective hunting plan. Plasma progesterone (P4) ranged from a minimum of 1.9 to a maximum of 7.48 ng/mL; while hair P4 concentrations varied from 41.68 to 153.57 pg/mg. The plasma and hair cortisol ranges are respectively 0.4–2.97 ng/mL and 0.03–0.55 pg/mg; the only significant correlation was found between hair concentration of P4 and the date of death. The results of this preliminary study represent a small step towards a better knowledge of this species’ physiology during pregnancy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progesterone and Cortisol Levels in Blood and Hair of Wild Pregnant Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) Hinds

Ventrella

Elmi

Bertocchi

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…During our study, the fallow deer was the main prey of these carnivores ( c. 52% of diet, April 2007–March 2008, Manghi & Boitani, ), followed by the roe deer ( c. 27%). Selective culling of fallow deer and wild boar, as well as captures of wild boar with population control purposes, was conducted by Park Wardens and authorised operators (fallow deer culling), in Sites A and C, all year round (Ferretti, Sforzi, Coats, & Massei, ; Pecorella, Ferretti, Sforzi, & Macchi, ). Roe deer has never been culled in our study area since the time it was established as a protected area, i.e., in 1975.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A pack of wolves Canis lupus with signs of genetic introgression with dogs were the only large predators present in the area (Caniglia et al, 2013;Manghi & Boitani, 2012). During our study, the fallow deer was the main prey of these carnivores (Ferretti, Sforzi, Coats, & Massei, 2014;Pecorella, Ferretti, Sforzi, & Macchi, 2016). Roe deer has never been culled in our study area since the time it was established as a protected area, i.e., in 1975.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

To scan or not to scan? Occurrence of the group‐size effect in a seasonally nongregarious forager

Fattorini

Ferretti

2019

Ethology

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Group‐living requires a compromise between safety and direct/indirect costs for individuals. The larger is the group, the greater is the collective vigilance, leading to a greater net food intake per forager because of the time saved individually from scanning behaviour. In turn, individual alertness usually decreases with increasing group size (“group‐size effect”). Information on the occurrence of group‐size effect is still unclear. Previous studies have shown that it may fail to occur or even reverse, for example when costs of interference between conspecifics are high. In turn, assessing whether the group‐size effect would occur in weakly or seasonally gregarious species may help to understand its drivers. We evaluated the occurrence and the extent of group‐size effect in a seasonally nongregarious herbivore, the roe deer Capreolus capreolus. We examined the roles of sex/age class and season as drivers of vigilance behaviour. In roe deer, the group‐size effect did not depend on sex/age class: time spent foraging increased with increasing group size; in turn, vigilance increased with decreasing group size, in all sex/age classes. Females with fawns were the most vigilant sex/age class, thus revealing the cost of offspring protection. Accordingly, the higher spring vigilance levels of does could be related to reproductive costs (e.g., defence of newborn fawns). Conversely, the greater summer vigilance of bucks could result from patrolling/defence of territories. Both adult males and females also showed the higher vigilance in winter, likely because of an increase in the perception of predation risk and/or, possibly, hormones linked to an increase in intolerance of conspecifics, in males. However, the group‐size effect occurred in all the seasons, for adult males and females. Our findings suggest that foraging benefits provided by the group‐size effect may have overcome costs of group‐living, even in a weakly gregarious forager.

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“…Main predators of fallow deer present in MRP during the data collection time were wolf-dog hybrids Canis lupus (Manghi and Boitani 2012;Caniglia et al 2013). Fallow deer and wild boar culling, as well as wild boar captures for population control, occurred in some areas of MRP (Ferretti et al 2014b;Pecorella et al 2016), conducted by authorised opera-tors (fallow deer: from October to March) and Park Wardens (both species: throughout the year). Culling did not occur in our study area (Pecorella et al 2016).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex/age differences in foraging, vigilance and alertness in a social herbivore

et al. 2018

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Antipredator strategies and social factors may influence vigilance behaviour in herbivores. Vigilance can differ between sex/age classes, but information is contradictory in the existing literature. We investigated sex/age differences of vigilance in fallow deer Dama dama, in a Mediterranean area. Females (> 1 year old) showed a lower proportion of time foraging and a greater alertness rate than males (≥ 1 years old). Decrease of vigilance with increasing group size was observed for females and adult males, but not for young and subadult males, suggesting that group-size effects on vigilance were not consistent across individuals of different sex/age classes. Most likely, females tended to reduce the predation risk for their offspring through a comparatively greater duration and frequency of vigilance. Young/subadult males showed a greater alertness than adult males, which may depend on intraspecific competition in larger groups. Both antipredator and social factors could explain sex/age differences of vigilance in fallow deer.

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Effects of culling on vigilance behaviour and endogenous stress response of female fallow deer

Cited by 27 publications

References 68 publications

Progesterone and Cortisol Levels in Blood and Hair of Wild Pregnant Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) Hinds

Progesterone and Cortisol Levels in Blood and Hair of Wild Pregnant Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) Hinds

To scan or not to scan? Occurrence of the group‐size effect in a seasonally nongregarious forager

Sex/age differences in foraging, vigilance and alertness in a social herbivore

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