Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1993

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Life Sciences

Major Professor

Michael R. Pelton

Committee Members

John Gittleman, Hank Kattesh, John New Jr.

Abstract

A high density herd of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Cades Cove, Tennessee, was monitored through both behavioral observation and hormonal analysis to investigate the possibility that recent population trends may be explained in part by the action of an internal regulating mechanism. Behavioral and population census data were collected for two reproductive seasons to provide information on the nature of social interactions among group members and on changes in the structure and stability of social groups. Special attention was given to female dominance hierarchies, within which it was proposed that aggressive social interactions may influence the hormonal state of reproductive adult females.

Census results demonstrated that, during the winter sampling period, there were no significant changes in sex or age composition of family groups. These results were based on the overall proportion of females and of adults observed in daily censuses of family groups for a six-week period.

A procedure was developed and tested which analyzed concentration of progesterone and cortisol in fecal pellets collected from adult females in the Cades Cove deer herd. Behavioral observation and hormonal analyses also were conducted on a captive group of female deer at the University of Georgia. This group served as a control population for which life history data were available for all females. Analysis of hormonal data indicated that, among females in the captive herd (n=5, sampled once monthly over a six- month period), there was no significant effect of an individual's social rank or of the month in which an animal was sampled on progesterone concentration in feces. Similar data collected from the Cades Cove deer population were inconclusive for progesterone. Although these effects were found to be statistically nonsignificant, it should be noted that this study was not able to refute its original hypothesis that aggressive social interactions may influence the reproductive success of female white-tailed deer. Finding evidence of an internal density regulating mechanism in this population would require further study. This study provides preliminary information on both the dynamics of the Cades Cove deer population, as well as on the potentially valuable management tool of non-invasive fecal hormone analysis. Recommendations are made for the continued monitoring of the Cades Cove herd and for the development of sampling techniques which may provide more information on the dynamics of the deer herd and the effects of social activity on the density and reproductive performance of female white-tailed deer in Cades Cove.

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