Effect of simulated hunting during the rut on reproduction and movement of Coues white-tailed deer
Issue Date
1992Keywords
Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife.Advisor
Smith, N. S.Metadata
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The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
I examined the influence of human disturbance on Coues white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus couesi) by subjecting deer within separate but similar areas to different levels of disturbance during breeding seasons, 1990-91 and 1991-92. Marked does (n=7) were seldom found outside their harmonic mean core areas (χ² = 7.140, 6 df), or harmonic mean home ranges (χ² = 1.030, 6 df). In summer 1992, I collected reproductive information from 10 adult females within each area. Fetal rates within the control and treatment areas were 1.3 fetuses/female and 1.1 fetuses/female, respectively. The corpora albicantia counts, reflecting the 1991 fetal rate, were 0.9 for the control, and 1.1 for the treatment areas. Calculated conception dates within both areas showed a peak in early January and their distributions were not significantly different (P=0.32). There was no difference in reproduction or movement in response to increased disturbance of 60 hunter-days/15km².Type
textThesis-Reproduction (electronic)