Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T16:10:18.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Direct versus indirect effects of social rank, maternal weight, body condition and age on milk production in Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2009

Tomás Landete-Castillejos ,
Francisco Ceacero ,
Andrés J García ,
Jose A. Estevez  and
Laureano Gallego
Tomás Landete-Castillejos*
Affiliation:
Sección de Recursos Cinegéticos, IDR, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología Agroforestal, ETSIA, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Animal Science Tech. Applied to Wildlife Management Research Group, IREC Sec. Albacete, Campus UCLM, 02071Albacete, Spain
Francisco Ceacero
Affiliation:
Sección de Recursos Cinegéticos, IDR, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología Agroforestal, ETSIA, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Animal Science Tech. Applied to Wildlife Management Research Group, IREC Sec. Albacete, Campus UCLM, 02071Albacete, Spain
Andrés J García
Affiliation:
Sección de Recursos Cinegéticos, IDR, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología Agroforestal, ETSIA, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Animal Science Tech. Applied to Wildlife Management Research Group, IREC Sec. Albacete, Campus UCLM, 02071Albacete, Spain
Jose A. Estevez
Affiliation:
Sección de Recursos Cinegéticos, IDR, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología Agroforestal, ETSIA, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain Animal Science Tech. Applied to Wildlife Management Research Group, IREC Sec. Albacete, Campus UCLM, 02071Albacete, Spain
Laureano Gallego
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología Agroforestal, ETSIA, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071Albacete, Spain
*
*For correspondence; e-mail: Tomas.Landete@uclm.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Social rank in cervids and other mammals is not entirely predicted by body weight, but in most cases influences access to food directly. Milk provisioning depends on maternal weight and on daily food intake. Usually, body weight, body condition, age and social rank are inter-correlated making it very difficult to discern the relative importance of each variable to milk production. This study used path analysis to assess direct versus indirect effects of these variables on milk production of 62 Iberian red deer hinds (Cervus elaphus hispanicus). Once the known direct effects of body weight and body condition were set as fixed, hind age and social rank did not affect milk production directly. In contrast, they exerted an indirect influence through the correlation both with hind body weight and body condition. Body weight exerted an effect on milk production nearly twice as great as that of body condition. This study shows, for the first time in a wild mammal, the relative importance of social rank, body weight, body condition and age in affecting milk production ability.

Keywords

Lactationparental investmentpath analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Dairy Research , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 77 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Proprietors of Journal of Dairy Research 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altmann, J 1974 Observational study of behaviour: sampling methods. Behaviour 49 227–267CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Appleby, MC 1980 Social rank and food access in red deer stags. Behaviour 74 294–309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ASAB 2008 Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research and teaching. Animal Behaviour 75 II–XGoogle Scholar
Audigé, L, Wilson, PR & Morris, RS 1998 A body condition score system and its use for farmed red deer hinds. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 41 545–553CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bérubé, CH, Festa-Bianchet, M & Jorgenson, JT 1996 Reproductive costs of sons and daughters in Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. Behavioral Ecology 7 60–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brelurut, A, Pingard, A & Thériez, M 1990 [Stag rearing]. Paris, France: INRAGoogle Scholar
Burnham, KP & Anderson, DR 2002 Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretical Approach. New York, USA: Springer-VerlagGoogle Scholar
Burnham, KP & Anderson, DR 2004 Multimodel inference: understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Sociological Methods Research 33 261–304CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, EZ 1998. Is suckling behaviour a useful predictor of milk intake? A review. Animal Behaviour 56 521–532Google Scholar
Carrión, D, García, AJ, Gaspar-López, E, Landete-Castillejos, T & Gallego, L 2008 Development of body condition in hinds of Iberian red deer during gestation and its effects on calf birth weight and milk production. Journal of Experimental Zoology 307A 1–10Google Scholar
Ceacero, F, Landete-Castillejos, T, García, AJ, Estevez, JA & Gallego, L 2007 Kinship discrimination and effects on social rank and aggressiveness levels in Iberian red deer hinds. Ethology 113 1133–1140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan-McLeod, ACA, White, RG & Holleman, DF 1994 Effects of protein and energy intake, body condition and season on nutrient partitioning and milk production in caribou and reindeer. Canadian Journal of Zoology 72 938–947CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clutton-Brock, TH, Albon, SD, Gibson, RM & Guinness, FE 1979 The logical stag: adaptive aspects of fighting in red deer (Cervus elaphus L.). Animal Behaviour 27 211–225CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clutton-Brock, TH, Iason, GR, Albon, SD & Guinness, FE 1982a Effects of lactation on feeding behaviour and habitat use in wild red deer hinds. Journal of Zoology 198 227–236Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, TH, Guinness, FE & Albon, SD 1982b Red Deer: Behaviour and Ecology of the Two Sexes. Edinburgh. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University PressGoogle Scholar
Clutton-Brock, TH, Albon, SD & Guinness, FE 1984 Maternal dominance, breeding success and birth sex ratios in red deer. Nature 308 358–360Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, TH, Albon, SD & Guinness, FE 1986 Great expectations: dominance, breeding success and offspring sex ratios in red deer. Animal Behaviour 34 460–471Google Scholar
Coppock, CE, Tyrrell, HF, Merrill, WG & Reid, JR 1968 The significance of protein reserve to the lactating cow. Proceedings of the Cornell Nutrition Conference for Feed Manufactures 86–94Google Scholar
Côte, SD 2000 Dominance hierarchies in female mountain goats: stability, aggressiveness and determinants of rank. Behaviour 137 1541–1566CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Espmark, I 1964 Studies in dominance-subordination relationship in a group of semi-domestic reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.). Animal Behaviour 12 420–425CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrandis, P, Mateo, R, López-Serrano, FR, Martínez-Haro, M & Martínez-Duro, E 2008 Lead-shot exposure in red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) on a driven shooting estate. Environmental Science and Technology 42 6271–6277Google Scholar
Festa-Bianchet, M, Jorgenson, JT & Réale, D 2000 Early development, adult mass, and reproductive success in bighorn sheep. Behavioral Ecology 11 633–639CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grace, JB 2008 Structural equation modelling for observational studies. Journal of Wildlife Management 72 14–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guinard-Flament, J, Delamaire, E, Lamberton, P & Peyraud, JL 2007 Adaptations of mammary uptake and nutrient use to once-daily milking and feed restriction in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 90 5062–5072Google Scholar
Iriondo, JM, Albert, MJ & Escudero, A 2003 Structural equation modelling: an alternative for assessing causal relationships in threatened plant populations. Biological Conservation 113 367–377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, FC & McCuloch, CE 1990 Multivariate analysis in ecology and systematics: panacea or pandora's box. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 21 129–266CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimberly, KA, Lloyd, KCK & Diamond, J 1996 Is mammary output capacity limiting to lactational performance in mice? Journal of Experimental Biology 199 337–349Google Scholar
Kleiber, M 1961 The Fire of Life: An Introduction to Animal Energetics. New York NY, USA: John WileyGoogle Scholar
Landete-Castillejos, T, Garcia, AJ, Garde, J & Gallego, L 2000a Milk intake and yield curves and allosuckling in captive Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus). Animal Behaviour 60 679–687CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landete-Castillejos, T, García, AJ, Molina, P, Vergara, H, Garde, JJ & Gallego, L 2000b Milk production and composition in captive Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus): effect of birth date. Journal of Animal Science 78 2771–2777CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landete-Castillejos, T, García, AJ & Gallego, L 2001 Calf growth in captive Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus): effect of birth date and hind milk production and composition. Journal of Animal Science 79 1085–1092Google Scholar
Landete-Castillejos, T, García, AJ, Gómez, JA & Gallego, L 2003a Lactation under food constraints in Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus). Wildlife Biology 9 131–139Google Scholar
Landete-Castillejos, T, García, AJ, Gómez, JA & Gallego, L 2003b Subspecies and body size effect on lactation biology in red deer: comparison of Cervus elaphus hispanicus and C. e. scoticus. Physiological & Biochemical Zoology 76 594–602Google Scholar
Landete-Castillejos, T, García, AJ, López-Serrano, FR & Gallego, L 2005 Maternal quality and differences in milk production and composition for male and female Iberian red deer calves (Cervus elaphus hispanicus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 57 267–274Google Scholar
Landete-Castillejos, T, García, AJ, Carrión, D, Estevez, JA, Ceacero, F, Gaspar-López, E & Gallego, L 2009 Age-related body weight constraints on prenatal and milk provisioning in Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) affect allocation of maternal resources. Theriogenology 71 400–407Google Scholar
Mitchell-Olds, T & Shaw, RG 1987 Regression analysis of natural selection: statistical inference and biological interpretation. Evolution 41 1149–1161Google Scholar
Mysterud, A, Yoccoz, NG, Langvatn, R, Pettorelli, N & Stenseth, NC 2008 Hierarchical path analysis of deer responses to direct and indirect effects of climate in northern forest. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 363 2359–2368Google Scholar
Oftedal, OT 1985 Pregnancy and lactation. In Bioenergetics of Wild Herbivores (Eds Hudson, R & White, RG) pp. 215–238 Boca Raton Fl, USA: CRCGoogle Scholar
Oldham, JD & Friggens, NC 1989 Sources of variability in lactational performance. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 48 33–43Google Scholar
Petraitis, PS & Dunham, AE & Niewiarowski, PH 1996 Inferring multiple causality: the limitations of path analysis. Functional Ecology 10 421–431Google Scholar
Phillips, CJC & Rind, RI 2002 The effects of social dominance on the production and behaviour of grazing dairy cows offered forage supplements. Journal of Dairy Science 85 51–59Google Scholar
Shipley, B 2000 Cause and Correlation in Biology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Schumacker, RE & Lomax, RG 2004 A Beginner's Guide to Structural Equation Modelling. Mahaw NJ, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum AssociatesCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, JD 1989 Altering milk composition by feeding. Journal of Dairy Science 72 2801–2814CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thouless, CR 1990 Feeding competition between grazing red deer hinds. Animal Behaviour 40 105–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thouless, CR & Guinness, FE 1986 Conflict between red deer hinds: the winner always wins. Animal Behaviour 34 1166–1171Google Scholar
Veiberg, V, Loe, LE, Mysterud, A, Langvatn, R & Stenseth, NC 2004 Social rank, feeding and winter weight loss in red deer: any evidence of interference competition? Oecologia 138 135–142Google Scholar
de Vries, H 1998 Finding a dominance order most consistent with a linear hierarchy: a new procedure and review. Animal Behaviour 55 827–843CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
White, G 1992 Nutritional in relation to season, lactation and growth of north temperate deer. In The Biology of Deer (Ed. Brown, RD) pp. 407–417 New York NY, USA: Springer-VerlagCrossRefGoogle Scholar