Maternal behaviors influence survival of ungulate neonates under heavy predation risk.

ABSTRACT: Predators impose top-down forces on prey populations, with the strength of those effects often varying over space and time and among demographic groups. In ungulates, predation risk is typically greatest for neonatal offspring, with some suggesting that predators can key in on adult activity to locate hidden neonates. However, few field studies to date have been able to directly assess the influence of maternal care on ungulate neonate survival. Using a population of white-tailed deer under heavy coyote predation pressure, we tested the maternal dispersion hypothesis, which suggests the dispersion of maternal activity temporally and spatially attenuates risk of predation for ungulate neonates during this vulnerable altricial phase. We compared support for this hypothesis with more commonly

SUBMITTER: Muthersbaugh MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11338655 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature