#1825620 - 03/06/10 06:53 PM
Dispersal ? For All Biologists
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Yodel Dog
8 Point
Registered: 10/14/08
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Loc: Mid Tn
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I recently watched a well known hunter on tv explain how dispersal was mother nature's way of preventing inbreeding. He went on to say that if a hunter sees a mature doe with twin button fawns, and harvests that doe, the chances are very good that those buck fawns will not disperse, but stay in its mother's home range. He also cited that there were numerous studies proving this to be true. Have there ever been such studies (to your knowledge), and what exactly did the studies conclude? I found this very interesting as I see twin button fawns quite frequently on the property I hunt.
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#1825625 - 03/06/10 06:55 PM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: Yodel Dog]
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Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
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Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
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I think that is correct.
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#1826040 - 03/06/10 11:10 PM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: Football Hunter]
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Deer Bio
Spike
Registered: 02/26/10
Posts: 52
Loc: United states
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Yes thats correct. But it doesnt have to be a doe with twin fawns. It could be a doe with a single buck fawn. It could be a doe with a buck fawn and a doe fawn.
The premise is just as you suggested. In most cases a doe will disperse buck fawns before the rut. Which means that buck fawn will be dispersed and therefore find another area. If that doe is harvested before the rut, her fawns will most likely,stay in the area they are familiar with.
If you watch and observe deer, you will see a doe with all her fawns before the rut. After the rut, you probably wont see her with any buck fawns, but her doe fawns will most likely still be with her.
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#1826047 - 03/06/10 11:19 PM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: Deer Bio]
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Yodel Dog
8 Point
Registered: 10/14/08
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Loc: Mid Tn
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Yes thats correct. But it doesnt have to be a doe with twin fawns. It could be a doe with a single buck fawn. It could be a doe with a buck fawn and a doe fawn.
I failed to point out, the hunter gave this information explaining how to have more bucks on your property. I guess that's why he gave the example of twin button fawns.
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#1826399 - 03/07/10 09:40 AM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: Yodel Dog]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Registered: 03/11/99
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Loc: Nashville, TN
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Yearling Buck Dispersal (YBD) is a complicated issue. It appears there are real regional factors at play. In southern climes it appears more dispersal occurs in fall, just before the rut; while in northern climes it looks like more YBD occurs in spring just before fawning time.
Marchington conducted the best know YBD study in the Southeast many years ago, and this study indicated a very high percent of orphaned buck fawns did not disperse from their birth range in comparison to non-orphaned buck fawns. The big problem with this study was the small sample size (around 20 buck fawns).
Another study on YBD conducted on the DelMarVa Penninsula suggested it wasn't mother aggression that drove yearling bucks to disperse but yearling buck size and potential for breeding status. In a herd with advanced buck age structure (mature bucks present), the largest yearlings dispersed while the smallest did not. Their theory was that the largest yearling bucks dispersed away from an area that had many older bucks in hopes of finding an area with less older bucks hence would provide them with a chance to become breeders, while the smallest yearlings--with no chance to be breeders no matter what the buck age structure--did not disperse. The problem with that theory is yearling bucks would have to "realize" their size advantage and their was no proof the surrounding areas had lower buck age structure.
A very large-scale YBD study conducted in PA found that instead of reducing YBD, renoving more mother does only changed the timing of yearling buck dispersal from spring to fall. However, the problem with that study was no guarantee that actual mothers of button bucks were being removed. They simply looked at radio-collared button buck movements in an area that suddenly experienced much greater doe harvests. Maybe mother does of the radio-collar button bucks were being removed and maybe they were not.
So, take your pick...
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#1826408 - 03/07/10 09:45 AM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: BSK]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Probably the most interesting YBD data to come from any study was the data analysis done by the PA researcher. In numerous YBD studies, widely varying dispersal distances were found, from very short-distance dispersal to very long-distance dispersal. It was assumed these varying numbers were somehow regional. However, after examining all of these varying reported distances, and looking at the habitat of each study area, the PA researcher graphed them all out by the percent of the habitat that is wooded versus open and found a very nice linear regression. It looks like yearling buck dispersal distances are a factor of habitat. The more open the habitat the farther they disperse. The more wooded the habitat the shorter the distances they disperse.
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"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1827579 - 03/07/10 11:06 PM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: BSK]
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bowriter
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Registered: 08/31/02
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Probably the least understood phenomena of deer managment. Also probably has zero to do with inbreeding. Varies from year to year and area to area and nobody...that I now of...knows why or how. Marchintom told me one time, he didn't have a clue. Seems it is habitat related more than anything else.
Personally, I don't care, anymore.
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#1827700 - 03/08/10 06:44 AM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: bowriter]
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MUP
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On the other hand, wouldn't that(taking out mama with a button or two) increase the probability of inbreeding?
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MUP
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#1827980 - 03/08/10 11:13 AM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: MUP]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Registered: 03/11/99
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Loc: Nashville, TN
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Why a particular behavior develops and how that behavior benefits the species in the future can be two very different things. Any biological or behavioral change can have unintended consequences, both positive and negative.
It has often been suggested that YBD developed as a mechanism to reduce inbreeding. That makes a lot of sense. However, in their current state, white-tailed deer are so genetically diverse that inbreeding does not appear to b a problem. Captive deer can be back-bred trough the same lineage many times without displaying genetic damage from inbreeding. In addition, this dispersal behavior produces other consequences that appear to go hand-in-hand with other behavioral/biological of the white-tailed species.
The species exhibits numerous behaviors and biological factors which enhance the rapid spread of genetic material across wide geographic differences. In addition, their breeding behaviors enhance genetic diversity within localized populations.
One of the primary reasons the white-tailed deer species is able to be so adaptive and inhabitat such an incredibly wide range of habitat/environments (boreal forest of Canada to the tropical jungles of Central America) is their extreme genetic diversity. Every species has its own unique way of adapting to its environment, and the white-tailed species appears to do this through genetic diversity even within local populations. No matter what conditions they are exposed to, a few individuals will be naturally adapted to that environment just out of shear chance. These naturally adapted individuals can then rapidly reproduce a population which carries those genetic adaptations.
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"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1828161 - 03/08/10 01:21 PM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: MUP]
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Bayou Buck
8 Point
Registered: 05/11/09
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You must have been watching The Wild Outdoors
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#1828848 - 03/08/10 08:52 PM
Re: Dispersal ? For All Biologists
[Re: Bayou Buck]
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Yodel Dog
8 Point
Registered: 10/14/08
Posts: 1087
Loc: Mid Tn
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You must have been watching The Wild Outdoors
You're correct!
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