White-tailed Deer of Florida

Boughton, Raoul K.; Wight, Bethany; Hood, Karen; Main, Martin B.

doi:10.32473/edis-uw121-2020

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…For instance, the relative frequency of the "glacier" bear (Ursus americanus ) is 0.4% against 96.6% of black bears (Lewis et al, 2020). Four different coat colour morphs in sea lion (Arctocephalus gazella ) on Livingston Island, Antarctica, occurred at a frequency of only 0.02-0.04% (Acevedo, Torres, & Aguayo-Lobo, 2009), and the "piebald" white-tailed deer in Florida, United States, occurred at a frequency of less than 1% (Boughton et al, 2020). Rare wild cat variants such as the golden tiger, white lion, and king cheetah have only been recorded a handful of times in history (Bottriell, 1987;Robinson & Vos, 1982;Zebley, Olson, & Ito, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular tracking and prevalence of the red colour morph restricted to a harvested leopard population in South Africa

Tensen,

Camacho,

Power

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The red leopard (Panthera pardus) colour morph is a colour variant that occurs only in South Africa, where it is confined to the Central Bushveld bioregion. Red leopards have been spreading over the past 40 years, which raises the speculation that the prevalence of this phenotype is related to low dispersal of young individuals owing to high off-take in the region. Intensive selective hunting tends to remove large resident males from the breeding population, which gives young males the chance to mate with resident females that are more likely to be their relatives, eventually increasing the frequency of rare genetic variants. To investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying the red coat colour morph in leopards, and whether its prevalence in South Africa relates to an increase in genetic relatedness in the population, we sequenced exons of six colour coat associated genes and 20 microsatellite loci in twenty wild-type and four red leopards. The results were combined with demographic data available from our study sites. We found that red leopards own a haplotype in homozygosity identified by one non-synonymous SNP and a 1 bp deletion that causes a frameshift in the Tyrosinase Related Protein 1 (TYRP1), a gene known to be involved in the biosynthesis of melanin. Microsatellite analyses indicate clear signs of a population bottleneck and a relatedness of 0.11 among all pairwise relationships, eventually supporting our hypothesis that a rare colour morph in the wild has increased its local frequency due to low natal dispersal. This was backed by a high human-induced mortality rate (40%).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular tracking and prevalence of the red colour morph restricted to a harvested leopard population in South Africa

Tensen,

Camacho,

Power

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…For instance, the relative frequency of the ‘glacier’ bear ( Ursus americanus ) is 0.4% against 96.6% of black bears within southeast Alaska (Lewis et al, 2020 ). Four different coat colour morphs in sea lion ( Arctocephalus gazella ) on Livingston Island, Antarctica, occurred at a frequency of only 0.02–0.04% (Acevedo et al, 2009 ), and the ‘piebald’ white‐tailed deer in Florida, the United States, occurred at a frequency of <1% (Boughton et al, 2020 ). Rare wild cat variants such as the golden tiger, white lion and king cheetah have only been recorded a handful of times in history (Bottriell, 1987 ; Robinson & De Vos, 1982 ; Zebley et al, 1997 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular tracking and prevalence of the red colour morph restricted to a harvested leopard population in South Africa

Tensen

Power

Camacho

et al. 2022

Evolutionary Applications

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Biodiversity loss is occurring at an alarming rate around the globe and across all trophic levels (Butchart et al., 2010). Arguably, the loss of apex predators has particularly strong effects on ecosystems (Estes et al., 2011). They are also one of the most challenging groups to conserve due to their large area requirements, low densities and reproduction rates, and conflicts with humans and livestock (Ripple et al., 2014). One large carnivore, the leopard (Panthera pardus), is increasingly persecuted across its range that has declined by 48-67% over the past few decades (Jacobson et al., 2016). The decrease in population numbers has been particularly prominent in South Africa

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“…Several studies have suggested prolonged high water caused by episodic tropical storms can result in elevated deer mortality rates (Fleming et al, 1994;Labisky et al, 1995Labisky et al, , 1999Loveless, 1959;MacDonald-Beyers & Labisky, 2005). Effect of water depth on deer survival can be mediated by shifts in space use toward lower quality forage areas (MacDonald-Beyers & Labisky, 2005), and increases in predation susceptibility related to decreased mobility and higher concentration of deer population in high water level conditions (Boughton et al, 2020). Previous studies suggested water depths exceeding 0.5 m are detrimental to deer populations (Labisky et al, 1999;Loveless, 1959;MacDonald-Beyers & Labisky, 2005).…”

Section: (B)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing carnivore conservation and sustainable hunting of a key prey species: A case study on the Florida panther and white‐tailed deer

Bled

Cherry

Garrison

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Large carnivore restoration programs are often promoted as capable of providing ecosystem services. However, these programs rarely measure effects of successful restoration on other economically and ecologically important species. In South Florida, while the endangered Florida panther Puma concolor coryi population has increased in recent years due to conservation efforts, the population of its main prey, the white‐tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, has declined in some regions. The extent to which panther predation has affected deer populations has been difficult to assess because several other factors have changed during this period, including hydrology and hunting regulations. We collected known‐fate survival data on 241 GPS‐collared adult deer (156 females and 85 males) from 2015 to 2018 in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, USA, to assess effects of panther predation on the deer population, while also evaluating the impacts of hunting and hydrology. Predation was the primary cause of death (110 of 134 mortalities), and 87% of predation events were attributed to panthers, a much greater rate than reported by studies conducted before the panther genetic restoration effort initiated in 1995. One deer was legally harvested, and two were likely killed by poachers. Increasing water depth decreased female survival but had little impact on male survival, and drowning was never a cause of mortality. Females had greater survival probability than males, except during fawning season. From 2015 to 2018, annual survival rates increased from 0.61 (0.52–0.70) to 0.86 (0.79–0.91) for females, and from 0.45 (95% CI: 0.33–0.58) to 0.79 (0.69–0.86) for males. Synthesis and applications. High predation rates, coupled with previous evidence of low recruitment of deer in South Florida, suggest that it will be challenging to meet society's competing demands for large predator restoration and sustainable deer harvest. Deer hunting in the area must remain tightly controlled, for now, if it is to be sustainable, and managers should seek to mitigate effects of high waters and improve deer habitat quality to increase deer population viability. Future work should closely monitor the deer population to assess if management actions can increase vital rates and abundance in the context of high predation rates.

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White-tailed Deer of Florida

Cited by 7 publications

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Molecular tracking and prevalence of the red colour morph restricted to a harvested leopard population in South Africa

Molecular tracking and prevalence of the red colour morph restricted to a harvested leopard population in South Africa

Molecular tracking and prevalence of the red colour morph restricted to a harvested leopard population in South Africa

Balancing carnivore conservation and sustainable hunting of a key prey species: A case study on the Florida panther and white‐tailed deer

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