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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18312.x Byline: Cecile Vanpe, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Petter Kjellander, Olof Liberg, Daniel Delorme, A. J. Mark Hewison Abstract: Little is known about traits under sexual selection in territorial mammals with low sexual size dimorphism. We examined the potential for sexual selection on male body mass and antler length in the European roe deer Capreolus capreolus, a territorial ungulate in which males are less than 10% heavier than females. Independently, both body mass and antler length (irrespective of age) had a positive effect on male yearly breeding success. However, when corrected for body mass, antler length at a given mass only had a slight effect on male breeding success. This suggests that: (1) 'bigger is better' and (2) sexual selection is responsible for at least part of the observed variation in body mass and antler length in roe deer. High body mass and large antlers may be advantageous to males for two reasons: (1) they enhance fighting ability and dominance, so allowing males to defend better their territory and hence access mates, and (2) they attract females because they are honest signals of male phenotypic quality. This suggests that, even in weakly dimorphic ungulate species, sexual selection may lead to a marked influence of body mass on male breeding success, as long as body mass is also strongly selected in females. Author Affiliation: (1)Laboratoire Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Inst. National de la Recherche Agronomique, BP 52627, FR-31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France (2)Laboratoire de Biometrie et Biologie Evolutive, Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, FR-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France (3)Grimso Wildlife Research Station, Dept of Ecology, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Science (SLU), SE-73091 Riddarhyttan, Sweden (4)Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Centre National de Recherches Appliquees sur les Cervides-Sanglier, 1 Place Exelmans, FR-55000 Bar-le-Duc, France Article History: Paper manuscript accepted 7 January 2010 Article note: A. J. M. Hewison, Laboratoire Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Inst. National de la Recherche Agronomique, BP 52627, FR-31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France. E-mail: mark.hewison@toulouse.inra.fr

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2009.17346.x Byline: Sonia Said, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Olivier Widmer, Francois Debias, Gilles Bourgoin, Daniel Delorme, Celine Roux Abstract: Spatial distribution in mammals, and thereby home range size, is influenced by many different factors including body size, sex, age, reproductive status, season, availability of forage, availability of water, fragmentation of landscape, trophic level and intra- and inter-specific competition. Using linear mixed models, we looked for factors shaping the variation in size of spring-summer and winter home ranges for 51 radio-collared adult female roe deer at Trois Fontaines forest, Champagne-Ardenne, France (1996-2005). Home range size of females was larger in winter than in spring-summer, decreased with age, and decreased with increasing quality. Females in low quality areas adjusted the size of their home range to include more patches of habitat so that all female deer obtained similar amounts of food resources (total biomass of 6.73[+ or -]2.34 tons (mean[+ or -]SE) for each home range). Such adjustments of home range size in response to patchiness of resources led to marked between-female variation in home range size. Our results demonstrate that roe deer females have different tactics of habitat use according to spatial variations in habitat quality so that females get similar food resources in highly productive environments such as the Trois Fontaines forest. Article History: Manuscript Accepted 13 February 2009 Article note: S. Said, O. Widmer, D. Delorme and C. Roux, Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Centre National d'Etudes et de Recherches Appliquees Cervides-Sanglier, 85bis Avenue de Wagram, FR-75017 Paris, France. - J.-M. Gaillard (gaillard@biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr), F. Debias and G. Bourgoin, Unite Mixte de Recherche 5558 Biometrie et Biologie Evolutive, Batiment 711, Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, FR-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.

We investigated age-specific variation in male yearly breeding success (YBS) using genetic estimates obtained from 2 populations of a territorial ungulate, the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). YBS in both populations was markedly age-structured, with 3 distinct stages, supporting the dome-shaped pattern of variation commonly reported for age-dependent variation in life-history traits of ungulates. YBS was low at 2 years of age, peaked at 3-8 years of age, and tended to decline afterwards (senescence). Most males successfully reproduced for the 1st time at 3 years of age, which is well after their physiological maturity. The few successful young males (i.e., 2 year olds) were likely fast-growing individuals that could successfully hold a territory. The high variance in YBS and antler size for old males at Bogesund, Sweden, suggests that only some males of this age class are able to maintain large antlers and, hence, retain their territories. Key words: age of 1st breeding, Capreolus capreolus, microsatellites, paternity analyses, reproductive success, senescence, territoriality, ungulate

Abstract: We studied the composition of European roe deer, Capreolus capreolus (L., 1758), groupings in agricultural fields in northern France throughout an annual cycle to examine whether adult males and [...]

We analyzed spatial variations in movements and survival in a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) population (Chize, western France) by using recent developments of multistate capture-mark-recapture modeling in order to estimate transition and survival probabilities of individuals living in three habitats of contrasting quality. Irrespective of both population density and sex, habitat quality did not influence survivorship of prime-age or senescent roe deer. Likewise, habitat quality did not influence fawn survival at low density. On the other hand, fawn survival at high density was 20% higher in the resource-rich hornbeam-dominant coppices than in the other poorer habitats. We found, as expected, that fawns were mobile, whereas adults of both sexes were highly sedentary. Movements of roe deer among habitats were markedly influenced by habitat quality. Transition probabilities of individuals from the rich hornbeam coppices toward other habitats were lower than transition probabilities of individuals from the poor beech stand or from the medium-quality maple dominant coppices toward the rich hornbeam coppices. Key words: Capreolus capreolus; fitness components; France; habitat quality; ideal despotic distribution; idea/free distribution; movements; multistate capture--mark--recapture analysis; roe deer; spatial heterogeneity; ungulates.

The winter body mass of fawns affects their survival during the first year and their breeding traits. A comparison was made between the body mass of roe deer fawns in two enclosed populations with different climatic and demographic conditions. The body mass of fawns that stayed under conditions of cold winter, abundant food and high birthrates were not dependent on either climatic conditions or population density. The body mass of those that lived under mild winter, less abundant food and lower birthrates was found to be related to temperature and population density.

The heterozygosity-fitness correlations (HFCs) in a population of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) are monitored intensively to assess the relationship between juvenile survival, a reliable proxy for individual fitness among studied roe deer population and genetic diversity. The results from both neutral and candidate gene markers suggested that the observed HFCs are likely due to linkage with dominant or overdominant loci that affect fitness rather than to a genome-wide relationship with homozygosity due to inbreeding.

The influence of plant productivity from birth to fall on the following winter body mass of roe deer fawns is determined. The effect of plant activity is found to be similar for both male and female fawn mass, as expected from the weak intensity of sexual section in roe deer life history traits.

The authors posit that Hurricane Lothar will have a positive effect on France's roe deer populations rather than a negative one. The hurricane, one of the most extreme that the nation has suffered in centuries, cleared openings in forests that created quality habitat for the deer, and no observable negative impacts were found for sex- and age-specific survival rates.