Skip to main content
Log in

Sexual dimorphism, survival and dispersal in red deer

  • Editor’s Invited Article
  • Published:
Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A detailed and extensive mark-recapture-recovery study of red deer on the island of Rum forms the basis of the modeling of this article. We analyze male and female deer separately, and report results for both in this article, but use the female data to demonstrate our modeling approach. We provide a model-selection procedure that allows us to describe the survival by a combination of age-classes, with common survival within each class, and senility, which is modeled continuously as a parametric function of age. Dispersal out of the study area is modeled separately. Survival and dispersal probabilities are examined for the possible influence of both environmental and individual covariates, including a range of alternative measures of population density. The resulting model is succinct and biologically realistic. We compare and contrast survival rates of male and female deer of different ages and compare the factors that affect their survival. We demonstrate large differences in the rate of senescence between males and females even though their senescence begins at the same age. The differences between the sexes suggest that, in population modeling of sexually size-dimorphic species, it is important to identify sex-specific survival functions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barry, S. C., Brooks, S. P., Catchpole, E. A., and Morgan, B. J. T. (2003), “The Analysis of Ring-Recovery Data Using Random Effects,” Biometrics, 59, 54–65.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, K. P. (1993), “A Theory for Combined Analysis of Ring-Recovery and Recapture Data,” in Marked Individuals in the Study of Bird Populations, eds. J.-D. Lebreton and P.M. North, Basel: Birkhauser Verlag, pp. 199–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catchpole, E. A., Morgan, B. J. T., Coulson, T. N., Freeman, S. N., and Albon, S. D. (2000), “Factors Influencing Soay Sheep Survival,” Applied Statistics, 49, 453–472.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Caughley, G. (1966), “Mortality Patterns in Mammals,” Ecology, 47, 906–918.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, T. H. (1988), Reproductive Success: Studies of Individual Variation in Contrasting Breeding Systems; Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, T. H., and Coulson, T. N. (2002), “Ungulate Population Dynamics: the Devil is in the Detail,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 357, 1299–1306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, T. H., Coulson, T., Milner-Gulland, E. J., Armstrong, H. M. and Thomson, D. (2002), “Sex Differences in Emigration and Mortality Affect Optimal Management of Deer Populations,” Nature, 415, 633–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, T. H., Guinness, F. E., and Albon, S. D. (1982), Red Deer: Behaviour and Ecology of Two Sexes, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conradt, L., Clutton-Brock, T. H., and Thomson, D. (1999), “Habitat Segregation in Ungulates: Are Males Forced into Suboptimal Foraging Habitats Through Indirect Competition by Females?,” Oecologia, 119, 367–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conradt, L., Gordon, I. J., Clutton-Brock, T. H., Thomson, D., and Guinness, F. E. (2001), “Could the Indirect Competition Hypothesis Explain Inter-sexual Site Segregation in Red Deer (Cervus elaphus L.)?” Journal of Zoology, 254, 185–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coulson, T., Guinness, F., Pemberton, J. Clutton-Brock, T. (in press), “The Demographic Consequences of Releasing a Population of Red Deer From Culling,” Ecology.

  • Fan, Y., Morgan, B. J. T., Catchpole, E. A., and Coulson, T. N. (2003), “Modelling the Survival and Dispersal of Red Deer Using Mark-Recapture-Recovery Data,” Technical Report UKC/1MS/03/19, University of Kent, Canterbury, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Festa-Bianchet, M., Gaillard, J.-M., and Cote, S. D. (2003), “Variable Age Structure and Apparent Density Dependence in Survival of Adult Ungulates,” Journal of Animal Ecology, 72, 640–649.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaillard, J.-M., Allaine, D., Pontier, D., Yoccoz, N. G., and Promislow, D. E. L. (1994), “Sensecence in Natural Populations of Mammals: A Reanalysis,” Evolution, 48, 509–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, A. J., McConnell, B. J., and Barker, R. J. (2001), “Factors Affecting First-Year Survival in Grey Seals and Their Implications for Life History Strategy,” Journal of Animal Ecology, 70, 138–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jorgenson, J. T., Festa-Bianchet, M., Lucherini, M., and Wishart, W. D. (1997), “Effects of Age, Sex, Disease and Density on Survival of Bighorn Sheep,” Ecology, 78, 1019–1032.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loison, A. (1995), “Approchesintra-et inter-spécifiques de la dynamique des populations: l’exemple du chamois,” PhD thesis, Université Claude-Bernard, Lyon, France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loison, A., Festa-Bianchet, M., Gaillard, J.-M., Jorgenson, J. T., and Jullien, J.-M. (1999), “Age-Specific Survival in Five Populations of Ungulates: Evidence of Senescence,” Ecology, 80, 2539–2554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe, N. B., and Monaghan, P. (2001), “Compensation for a Bad Start: Grow Now, Pay Later?,” Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 16, 254–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mysterud, A., Coulson, T., and Stenseth, N. C. (2002), “The Role of Males in the Dynamics of Ungulate Populations,” Journal of Animal Ecology, 71, 907–915.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nasution, M. D., Brownie, C., Pollock, K. H., and Powell, R. A. (2004), “The Effect on Model Identifiability of Allowing Different Relocation Rates for Live and Dead Animals in the Combined Analysis of Telemetry and Recapture Data,” Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics, 9, 27–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, J. D., Hines, J. E., and Blums, P. (1997), “Tests for Senescent Decline in Annual Survival Probabilities of Common Pochards, Aythya ferina,” Ecology, 78, 1009–1018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollock, K. H., Bunck, C. M., Winterstein, S. R., and Chen, C. L. (1995), “A Capture-Recapture Survival Analysis Model for Radio-Tagged Animals,” Journal of Applied Statistics, 22, 661–672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Post, E., and Stenseth, N. C. (1999), “Climatic Variability, Plant Phenology and Northern Ungulates,” Ecology, 80, 1322–1339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seber, G. A. F. (1982), The Estimation of Animal Abundance and Related Parameters (2nd ed.) London: Griffin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sibly, R. M., Collett, D., Promislow, D. E. L., Peacock, D. J., and Harvey, P. H. (1997), “Mortality Rates of Mammals,” Journal of Zoology, 243, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siler, W. (1979), “A Competing-Risk Model for Animal Mortality,” Ecology, 60, 750–757.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, G. C., and Burnham, K. P. (1999), “Program MARK: Survival Estimation from Populations of Marked Animals,” Bird Study, 46 (suppl), 120–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilby, R. L., O’Hare, G., and Barnsley, N. (1997), “The North Atlantic Oscillation and British Isles Climate Variability, 1865–1996,” Weather, 52, 266–276.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. A. Catchpole.

Additional information

(previously at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, England)

(previously at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, England)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Catchpole, E.A., Fan, Y., Morgan, B.J.T. et al. Sexual dimorphism, survival and dispersal in red deer. JABES 9, 1–26 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1198/1085711043172

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1198/1085711043172

Key Words

Navigation