Early life investment in antlers and body growth reflects adult performance in roe deer population under supplementary feeding conditions  

作　　者：Marta PELÁEZ Isabel SANUY Juan Carlos PERAL JoséLuisÁlvarez ESTEBAN Santiago LAVÍN Emmanuel SERRANO Ramón PEREA 

机构地区：[1]Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales,Universidad Politécnica de Madrid,Madrid,Spain [2]Wildlife Ecology&Health group(WE&H)and Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge(SEFaS).Facultat de Veterinària,Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona(UAB),Barcelona,Spain [3]Centro Cinegético I+D de Valsemana,Junta de Castilla y León,La Ercina,León,Spain

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2022年第3期396-407,共12页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：M.P.acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Education(FPU fellowship FPU13/00567);This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science through the INCREMENTO coordinated project(RTI2018-094202-BC21 and RTI2018-094202-A-C22).

摘　　要：Recent research has challenged the idea that cervid antlers are such costly traits,supporting the assertion early-life antler investment is an honest signal of adult phenotypic quality.However,inferences were made based on antler measurements while growing(velvet)and thus,studies on fully-formed clean antlers are needed to avoid possible bias caused by the inter-individual variation in antler growth phenology.We studied a semi-captive population of European roe deer inhabiting a sub-Mediterranean area(Valsemana research station)and living under optimal conditions(ad libitum food supply and veterinary care).Based on repeated measurements taken from 146 individuals,we assessed whether allocation to secondary sexual traits during early life affected body mass or antler development during adulthood.Furthermore,we evaluated which body measurements better predicted future male quality.Additionally,using 488 individuals,we described age-class-specific variation in male body measurements and assessed the decline in antler size between adult and senescent stages(i.e.magnitude of senescence).Results agree with the assertion that there is no negative effect of a high investment in antler during early life on adult antler size or body mass,but we suggest the use of clean antlers as a more robust and reliable measure.The variables that better predicted body mass during adulthood were yearling body mass and body size at 6 months.Antler score between 10 and 18 months resulted in the best indicator of adult antler size.Finally,we support the idea that the magnitude of senescence in antler size is smaller in environments with higher resource availability during winter.

关 键 词：antler size body mass early-life investment Mediterranean environments secondary sexual traits and senescence trade-offs 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]