Wear Fast, Die Young: More Worn Teeth and Shorter Lives in Iberian Compared to Scottish Red Deer

Pérez‐Barbería, F. Javier; Carranza, Juan; Sánchez-Prieto, Cristina B.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134788

Cited by 25 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(98 reference statements)

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“…However, for many populations of Iberian red deer this might be a challenge. A large number of Iberian red deer of the southern Spain populations live in fenced hunting estates [66] that precludes long distance and altitudinal movements. Besides, most of these populations are under unsustainable management that relies on food supplementation during mid and late summer, when plants quality and availability is insufficient to maintain high densities of deer [67,68].…”

Section: Behaviour As Mitigation Mechanism Of Heat Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat stress reduces growth rate of red deer calf: Climate warming implications

et al. 2020

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Climate models agree in predicting scenarios of global warming. In endothermic species heat stress takes place when they are upper their thermal neutral zone. Any physiological or behavioural mechanism to mitigate heat stress is at the cost of diverting energy from other physiological functions, with negative repercussions for individual fitness. Tolerance to heat stress differs between species, age classes and sexes, those with the highest metabolic rates being the most sensitive to stressing thermal environments. This is especially important during the first months of life, when most growth takes place. Red deer (Cervus elaphus) is supposedly well adapted to a wide range of thermal environments, based on its worldwide distribution range, but little is known about the direct effect that heat stress may have on calf growth. We assessed the effect that heat stress, measured by heat stress indices and physical environment variables (air temperature, relative air humidity, wind speed and solar radiation), have on calf and mother body weights from calf´s birth to weaning. We used 9265 longitudinal weekly body weight records of calf and mother across 19 years in captive Iberian red deer. We hypothesised that (i) heat stress in hot environments has a negative effect on calf growth, especially in males, as they are more energetically demanding to produce than females; and that (ii) the body weight of the mother through lactation should be negatively affected by heat stress. Our results supported hypothesis (i) but not so clearly hypothesis (ii). By weaning (day 143) calves growing under low heat stress environment grew up to 1.2 kg heavier than those growing in high heat stress environment, and males were more affected by heat stress than females. The results have implications in animal welfare, geographical clines in body size and adaptation to climate change.

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Section: Behaviour As Mitigation Mechanism Of Heat Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat stress reduces growth rate of red deer calf: Climate warming implications

et al. 2020

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“…Other factors, such as individual variation in tooth hardness might also be involved, but these factors must also covary with predator type and gender to explain our results. Even in the presence other explanatory factors, variation in tooth wear arising from variable foraging effort, as has been seen in other herbivore populations (Pérez‐Barbería et al., ; Veiberg et al., ), suggests important trade‐offs with nutrient assimilation, vulnerability to predation, and longevity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Very old individuals with highly advanced tooth wear can experience nutritional deficits due to reduced chewing efficiency (Pérez‐Barbería, Carranza, & Sánchez‐Prieto, ; von Hardenberg, Shipley, & Festa‐Bianchet, ). Nutritional deficits in these age classes could interact with vulnerability such that wildebeest killed by coursers would tend to show high levels of tooth wear, an effect that could mask any relationship between foraging effort and vulnerability.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, dental sexual dimorphism was weak, and male molars wore at a 74% faster rates processing the greater intake of forage needed to support rapid growth and large body size. Using morphological data from two populations of red deer, Pérez-Barbería et al (2015) further showed that within sexes, molar wear correlated positively with mandible length (an index of body size) but also negatively with longevity. In the highly sexually dimorphic Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarrandus platyrhynchus), Veiberg et al (2007) found that even females experienced a grow fast, wear fast trade-off.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Using morphological data from two populations of red deer, Pérez‐Barbería et al. () further showed that within sexes, molar wear correlated positively with mandible length (an index of body size) but also negatively with longevity. In the highly sexually dimorphic Svalbard reindeer ( Rangifer tarrandus platyrhynchus ), Veiberg et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Foraging investment in a long‐lived herbivore and vulnerability to coursing and stalking predators

Christianson

Becker²,

Brennan

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Allocating resources to growth and reproduction requires grazers to invest time in foraging, but foraging promotes dental senescence and constrains expression of proactive antipredator behaviors such as vigilance. We explored the relationship between carnivore prey selection and prey foraging effort using incisors collected from the kills of coursing and stalking carnivores. We predicted that prey investing less effort in foraging would be killed more frequently by coursers, predators that often exploit physical deficiencies. However, such prey could expect delayed dental senescence. We predicted that individuals investing more effort in foraging would be killed more frequently by stalkers, predators that often exploit behavioral vulnerabilities. Further these prey could expect earlier dental senescence. We tested these predictions by comparing variation in age‐corrected tooth wear, a proxy of cumulative foraging effort, in adult (3.4–11.9 years) wildebeest killed by coursing and stalking carnivores. Predator type was a strong predictor of age‐corrected tooth wear within each gender. We found greater foraging effort and earlier expected dental senescence, equivalent to 2.6 additional years of foraging, in female wildebeest killed by stalkers than in females killed by coursers. However, male wildebeest showed the opposite pattern with the equivalent of 2.4 years of additional tooth wear in males killed by coursers as compared to those killed by stalkers. Sex‐specific variation in the effects of foraging effort on vulnerability was unexpected and suggests that behavioral and physical aspects of vulnerability may not be subject to the same selective pressures across genders in multipredator landscapes.

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