Abstract
Growth patterns were examined using age-weight data from 21 264 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) collected over a 22-year period on the Savannah River Site, located near Aiken, South Carolina, USA. The Richards growth equation was used to evaluate the effects of sex, habitat, and genetic variation on asymptotic weight and the length of the growth period. Male deer grew for a longer period of time and obtained greater adult weights than did females. This variation in growth patterns is probably due to differences in life history strategies of the two sexes. Contrary to previous investigations, no associations were detected between genotypic variation at nine electrophoretic loci, or overall heterozygosity, and growth patterns of deer. Growth patterns of deer from upland habitat were different than those of deer from an adjacent swamp. Both sexes tended to grow faster and attain greater body weights in the uplands than in the swamp; however, asymptotic weight of males was the only growth parameter that differed significantly between the habitat types. Differences in growth functions among habitats may be related to differences in density, habitat quality, or the genetic composition of the populations. These results suggest that patterns of growth, which can affect levels of productivity of cervid populations, can differ significantly over relatively small geographic areas.
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
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Leberg, P., Smith, M.H., Brisbin, I.L. (1992). Influence of Sex, Habitat, and Genotype on the Growth Patterns of White-Tailed Deer. In: Brown, R.D. (eds) The Biology of Deer. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2782-3_72
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2782-3_72
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