SREL Reprint #1908

Relationships between heterozygosity and conception date in white-tailed deer from South Carolina

Olin E. Rhodes, Jr.1 and Robert Scott Johns2

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802 USA
2Department of Aquaculture, Fisheries and Wildlife, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 USA

Abstract: Data on fetal number, condition, age, and multilocus heterozygosity were collected from pregnant female white-tailed deer on the Savannah River site (SRS) during the 1984 breeding season. Conception dates were estimated for pregnant females based on predicitive equations involving fetal weight. Historical evidence indicates that a relationship between date of conception and overall level of multilocus heterozygosity exist for females in this herd. We examined relationships between multilocus heterozygosity and timing of reproduction in female white-tailed deer on the SRS while accounting for other sources of variation such as condition, fetal number, and age. Our results suggest that there are relationships between multilocus heterozygosity and timing of reproduction in this herd, but that these relationships may be confounded by the condition of breeding females.

SREL Reprint #1908

Rhodes, O.E., Jr. and R.S. Johns. 1993. Relationships between heterozygosity and conception date in white-tailed deer from South Carolina. pp. 119-125 In: I. D. Thompson. (Ed.). XXI IUGB Congress: Forests and Wildlife...Towards the 21st Century. International Union of Game Biologists, Halifax, Canada. 

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).