Migration distance and maternal resource allocation determine timing of birth in a large herbivore.

ABSTRACT: Birth timing is a key life-history characteristic that influences fitness and population performance. For migratory animals, however, appropriately timing birth on one seasonal range may be constrained by events occurring during other parts of the migratory cycle. We investigated how the use of capital and income resources may facilitate flexibility in reproductive phenology of migratory mule deer in western Wyoming, USA, over a 5-yr period (2015-2019). Specifically, we examined how seasonal interactions affected three interrelated life-history characteristics: fetal development, birth mass, and birth timing. Females in good nutritional condition at the onset of winter and those that migrated short distances had more developed fetuses (measured as fetal eye diameter in March). Variation in

SUBMITTER: Aikens EO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8243980 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature