Herbivore body condition response in altered environments: mule deer and habitat management.

ABSTRACT: The relationships between habitat, body condition, life history characteristics, and fitness components of ungulates are interwoven and of interest to researchers as they strive to understand the impacts of a changing environment. With the increased availability of portable ultrasound machines and the refinement of hormonal assays, assessment of ungulate body condition has become an accessible monitoring strategy. We employed body condition scoring, estimation of % ingesta-free body fat (%IFBF), assessment of free thyroid hormones (FT4 and FT3), and assessment of pregnancy, as metrics to determine if landscape-level habitat treatments affected body condition of adult (≥ 1.5 years old) female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). All body condition related metrics were measured on 2 neighboring

SUBMITTER: Bergman EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4153590 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature