from the Outdoor Wire:
FEATURE
New Study Says Every Buck Has A Shot
For those of us who were never the alpha male of our crowds, reason to take heart. It seems that even in white-tailed deer, long thought to be reflections of the dominant buck due to the domination of does, that ain't necessarily so.
As a study from the Journal of Mammology was headlined "Every buck has a shot".
The study, conducted in Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi, used DNA sampling rather than empirical observations of herds to determine genetic paternity. And, when it comes to mating patterns, a the study http://allenpress.com/system/files/pdfs/emails/2009/08/mamm-90-04-946-953.pdf finds that among white-tailed deer, every buck has a shot at contributing to the next generation.
Previous studies of the mating habits of deer have focused on behavioral observations, and it appeared that a few dominant, mature bucks obtained most of the matings and therefore likely sired most of the offspring each year. But the new study using genetic paternity tests (rather than observations) produced unexpected results.
This study finds there is a wider distribution of age and physical maturity among fathers of white-tailed deer.
The study, published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Mammalogy, bucks long-standing assumptions about white-tailed deer mating patterns.
Studies characterizing male reproductive success as highly skewed with a small number of mature dominant males monopolizing breeding are criticized for depending too heavily on behavioral observations and circumstantial evidence. This study, however, found that physically immature males1.5 to 2.5 years of age fathered 30 to 33 percent of offspring in the populations examined, even where larger, mature males were present (spare me the "babies having babies" comment, OK).
Dominating the social organization might not guarantee reproductive success. Other factors, among them ecological and behavioral variables may limit the ability of individual males to control access to females.
Young or subdominant males may be successful in fertilization by using alternative strategies that do not rely on dominance. In fact, those alternative strategies sound a lot like trolling the bar scene or cruisin for Cougars in humans.
The immature males think nothing about roaming - widely- in search of females in heat.
They also "pay proper attention" to a doe -the study says those younger males may spend 24 hours "tending" to a receptive female.
They also take advantage of something else uncovered in the study: evidence of female promiscuity that makes it easier for male deer of any age to find a mate.
Sound familiar?
The study sampled 1,219 deer from those three scattered populations. Total DNA was taken from either blood or ear-tissue samples, but antler material was also gathered and processed.
Three "captive populations" were studied from the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi, the King Ranch in Texas, and the Noble Foundation Wildlife Unit in Oklahoma. Researchers say they provided different demographic makeups due to long-term differences in harvest and herd management. One location allowed public hunting, while another was more restrictive, using herd thinning as a management technique. Those differences made for a more diverse demographic, giving the research a better foundation. That made it easier to evaluate adult sex ration and male age structure on reproductive success.
Apparently, we share some common traits with our friends the white-tail.
EDITORS NOTE: The full text of the research article, "Molecular Evaluation of the White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Mating System" (Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 90, No. 4, August 2009, published by Allen Press), is available at http://allenpress.com/system/files/pdfs/emails/2009/08/mamm-90-04-946-953.pdf. To learn more about the American Socity of Mammalogists, visit http:www.mammalsociety.org
From the New York Times:
Opinion »
Editorial: A Real Bill for the Climate
The U.S. needs a climate bill that forces technological change.
Every two years, like clockwork, Congress seems to pass an energy bill, each one marginally better than the one before. What this country does not need in 2009 is another energy bill, even a better one. What it needs is a climate bill, one committed to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in a way that engages the whole economy and forces major technological change.
Without such a bill, America will lose the race against time on climate, lose the race for markets for new and cleaner energy systems, and forfeit any claim to world leadership in advance of the next round of global climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December.
The bill approved by the House last month is a start. It calls for greater efficiency and alternative energy sources. But at its heart is a provision that would cut greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by midcentury. It would do so by imposing a steadily declining ceiling on emissions — raising the cost of dirtier fuels while steering investments to cleaner ones.Also from the Times:
Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security
WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.
Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.
Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response.
An exercise last December at the National Defense University, an educational institute that is overseen by the military, explored the potential impact of a destructive flood in Bangladesh that sent hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming into neighboring India, touching off religious conflict, the spread of contagious diseases and vast damage to infrastructure. “It gets real complicated real quickly,” said Amanda J. Dory, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy, who is working with a Pentagon group assigned to incorporate climate change into national security strategy planning.
Much of the public and political debate on global warming has focused on finding substitutes for fossil fuels, reducing emissions that contribute to greenhouse gases and furthering negotiations toward an international climate treaty — not potential security challenges.
But a growing number of policy makers say that the world’s rising temperatures, surging seas and melting glaciers are a direct threat to the national interest.Read more
