White‐tailed deer neonate survival in the absence of predators

Dion, Justin R.; Haus, Jacob M.; Rogerson, Joseph E.; Bowman, Jacob L.

doi:10.1002/ecs2.3122

Cited by 22 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(156 reference statements)

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“…2009), it is rare for studies to investigate mortality outside of a detected predation event (Dion et al . 2020) indicating that ability of factors to influence neonate ecology and mortality susceptibility prior to death may be severely understated in the current literature. For example, in the absence of functional predators, neonatal white‐tailed deer survival rates in Delaware were comparable to survival rates from other eastern populations with predators (Gingery et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2018; Dion et al . 2020) due to underlying diseases that were only detected after histological samples indicated disease presence. However, typically histological samples are not collected in neonate survival studies (Dion et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, typically histological samples are not collected in neonate survival studies (Dion et al . 2020). As a result, detected mortality causes, and the frequency of those causes, may be ineffective avenues to fully assess neonate ecology and susceptibility to mortality when considered alone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Survival is negatively associated with glucocorticoids in a wild ungulate neonate

et al. 2020

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It is unknown how ungulate physiological responses to environmental perturbation influence overall population demographics. Moreover, neonatal physiological responses remain poorly studied despite the importance of neonatal survival to population growth. Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones potentially facilitate critical physiological and behavioral responses to environmental perturbations. However, elevated GC concentrations over time may compromise body condition and indirectly reduce survival. We evaluated baseline salivary cortisol (CORT; a primary GC in mammals) concentrations in 19 wild neonatal white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a northern (NS) and southern (SS) area in Pennsylvania. After ranking survival models consisting of variables hypothesized to influence neonate survival (i.e. weight, sex), the probability of neonate survival was best explained by CORT concentrations, where elevated CORT concentrations were associated with reduced survival probability to 12 weeks of age. Cortisol concentrations were greater in the SS where predation rates and predator densities were lower. As the first evaluation of baseline CORT concentrations in an ungulate neonate to our knowledge, this is also the first study to demonstrate CORT concentrations are negatively associated with ungulate survival at any life stage. Glucocorticoid hormones could provide a framework in which to better understand susceptibility to mortality in neonatal white‐tailed deer.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Survival is negatively associated with glucocorticoids in a wild ungulate neonate

et al. 2020

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“…The estimated deer density in the study area was 19 deer/km 2 (Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife 2009). Sussex County lacks established populations of natural predators of white‐tailed deer (e.g., coyote [ Canis latrans ], bobcat [ Lynx rufus ], black bear [ Ursus americanus ]; Dion 2018). The hunting season in Delaware was open from 1 September to 31 January each year of the study with a mixture of primitive and modern weapons allowed.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Interannual Variability in Survival Rates for Adult Female White‐Tailed Deer

et al. 2020

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Adult female survival is an important component to population models and management programs for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), but short-term survival studies (1-3 yrs) may not accurately reflect the variation in interannual survival, which could alter management decisions. We monitored annual survival and cause-specific mortality rates of adult female white-tailed deer (n = 158) for 6 years (2010)(2011)(2012)(2016)(2017)(2018) in southern Delaware, USA. Annual survival rate differed among years. Survival rates (±SE) and mortality causes were similar in 3 years (2011 = 0.72 ± 0.08, 2017 = 0.68 ± 0.08, 2018 = 0.74 ± 0.09) and comparable to previous research from mixed forest-agricultural landscapes. A relatively low survival rate in 2010 (0.48 ± 0.11) was influenced by hunter harvest and potentially compounded by abnormally severe winter conditions in the prior year. A peracute outbreak of hemorrhagic disease occurred during summer 2012, resulting in an annual survival rate of 0.38 ± 0.11, and to our knowledge is the first reported case of a hemorrhagic disease outbreak in a monitored wild population with known fates. In 2016, we did not observe any harvest mortality, resulting in high annual survival (0.96 ± 0.04). Our results demonstrate the degree of variability in annual survival and cause-specific mortality rates within a population. We caution against the use of short-term survival studies to inform management decisions, particularly when incorporating survival data into population models or when setting harvest objectives.

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“…Although there are several ecological variables that affect ungulate offspring survival, field methodology can also affect derived survival estimates for a population. Derived survival estimates tend to be greater for opportunistically captured neonates compared to those captured via vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) due to increased left truncation in the opportunistically captured datasets (black-tailed deer, O. hemionus sitkensis , Gilbert et al, 2014;white-tailed deer, Chitwood et al, 2017;Dion et al, 2020). This variation can affect management and conservation efforts when survival estimates are needed to model population growth rates and abundance as these metrics are often used to determine the number of individuals that can be sustainably harvested from a population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Brackel

Michel

Gullikson

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Understanding what variables affect ungulate neonate survival is imperative to successful conservation and management of the species. Predation is commonly cited as a cause-specific source of mortality and ecological covariates often influence neonate survival. However, variation in survival estimates related to capture methodology has been documented with opportunistically captured neonates generally displaying greater survival than those captured via aid of vaginal implant transmitters (VITs), likely because of increased left truncation observed in the opportunistically captured datasets. Our goal was to assess if 3- and 6-month survival estimates varied by capture method while simultaneously assessing if capture method affected model selection and interpretation of ecological covariates for white-tailed deer neonates captured from three study sites in North Dakota and South Dakota, USA. We found survival varied by capture method for 3-month neonate survival with opportunistically captured neonates displaying up to 26% greater survival than their counterparts captured via VITs; however, this relationship was not present for 6-month survival. We also found model selection and subsequent interpretation of ecological covariates varied when analyzing datasets comprised of neonates captured via VITs, neonates captured opportunistically, and all neonates combined regardless of capture method. When interpreting results from our VIT only analysis for 3-month survival, we found survival varied by three time intervals and was lowest in the first two weeks of life. Capture method did not affect 6-month survival which was most influenced by total precipitation occurring during 3 – 8 weeks of a neonate’s life and percent canopy cover found at a neonate’s capture site. Our results support previous research that capture method must be accounted for when deriving survival estimates for ungulate neonates as it can impact derived estimates and subsequent interpretation of results.

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White‐tailed deer neonate survival in the absence of predators

Cited by 22 publications

References 86 publications

Survival is negatively associated with glucocorticoids in a wild ungulate neonate

Survival is negatively associated with glucocorticoids in a wild ungulate neonate

Interannual Variability in Survival Rates for Adult Female White‐Tailed Deer

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

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