Advances in Deer Physiology and Reproduction

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Wildlife".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2025 | Viewed by 2041

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: animal behaviour; captive breeding; cervids; husbandry; physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Ethology and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Animal Sciences and Bioeconomy, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Interests: deer farming; wildlife management; human-animal conflict; wild animals as bioindicators; ethology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cervids are species of broad interest to the scientific community. In the wild, several species are understudied and threatened, while many others are overabundant and need to be managed through hunting activities. In captivity, deer farming has steadily increased in recent decades, and captive breeding for conservation or recreational purposes is also becoming more widespread. Moreover, the reproductive biology of these species is of particular interest in terms of basic biology due to its link with the costly antler cycle.

The present Special Issue, “Advances in Deer Physiology and Reproduction”, aims to compile new findings and methodological approaches to this topic. Studies addressing reproductive biology and ecology based on wild and captive settings are welcome. The contributions are expected to highlight links between the reproductive cycles and outputs and physiological mechanisms, genetics, hormonal regulation, nutritional effects, antler cycle, maternal investment, etc. Manuscripts based on less-studied and endangered species are especially encouraged.

We invite both research articles and reviews.

Dr. Francisco Ceacero
Dr. Katarzyna Tajchman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antler cycle
  • endocrinology
  • reproductive biology
  • reproductive ecology
  • sexual selection
  • sperm quality

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 3177 KiB  
Article
Roe Deer Reproduction in Western Poland: The Late Autumn Rut Phenomenon
by Robert Kamieniarz, Michał Szymański, Magdalena Woźna-Wysocka, Bartłomiej M. Jaśkowski, Marcin K. Dyderski, Emilia Pers-Kamczyc and Maciej Skorupski
Animals 2024, 14(21), 3078; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14213078 - 25 Oct 2024
Viewed by 273
Abstract
Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.) populations in Poland are characterized by low productivity, which is why their reproductive potential was investigated. The presence of corpora lutea (CL) on the ovaries of females hunted in autumn and winter in the years 2015 and [...] Read more.
Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.) populations in Poland are characterized by low productivity, which is why their reproductive potential was investigated. The presence of corpora lutea (CL) on the ovaries of females hunted in autumn and winter in the years 2015 and 2016 was assessed. Most animals were post-rut and most often had multiple ovulations. However, in early autumn 2015, 60% of the females had no CL. Therefore, they did not participate in mating at the turn of July/August. Those that did ovulate were found to have one CL. In late autumn, 97% of the females were post-rut, mostly with twin ovulations. This confirmed the occurrence of a late autumn rut. This phenomenon had been suggested in studies but not confirmed. In contrast, almost 100% of roe deer ovulated in summer in 2016. It was hypothesized that the reason for the low mating activity of roe deer in the summer of 2015 was heat stress and limited food resources. The summer was exceptionally hot, with many days in July and August when temperatures exceeded 30 °C. The heat combined with low rainfall led to extreme drought. Meanwhile, July and August are the months of mating activity for roe deer. The late autumn rut allowed the roe deer—a monoestrous species—to limit the consequences of a decrease in mating activity or fertility during the hot summer. Global warming may affect roe deer reproduction, so climatic conditions should be considered in population studies, not only in terms of food availability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Deer Physiology and Reproduction)
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1292 KiB  
Article
Effects of Immunocastration and Amino Acid Supplementation on Yearling Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Testes Development
by Thoniso Chitambala, Veit Ny, Francisco Ceacero, Luděk Bartoň, Daniel Bureš, Radim Kotrba and Tersia Needham
Animals 2024, 14(1), 115; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010115 - 28 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1206
Abstract
Forty-four fallow deer bucks (10 months old; 22.9 ± 2.4 kg) were utilized to investigate the effects of immunocastration and amino acid supplementation on testes development. Immunocastrated bucks were administered Improvac® at weeks 1, 8, and 20 of this study (control group: [...] Read more.
Forty-four fallow deer bucks (10 months old; 22.9 ± 2.4 kg) were utilized to investigate the effects of immunocastration and amino acid supplementation on testes development. Immunocastrated bucks were administered Improvac® at weeks 1, 8, and 20 of this study (control group: intact males). Starting at week 8, half of each sex received rumen-protected lysine and methionine (3:1) supplementation. At slaughter (week 37/39), body size, internal fat deposits, antler size parameters, testes weight, testes surface color, cauda epididymal sperm viability and morphology, and seminiferous tubule circumference and epithelium thickness were determined. Animals with larger body sizes, greater forequarter development, and antler growth also had greater testes development. Whilst the result of immunocastration on testes size is unexpected, testes tissue showed impaired development (atrophied seminiferous tubules), decreased sperm viability, and normal morphology. Testes tissue from immunocastrated deer was less red, possibly indicating reduced blood supply. Conversely, amino acid supplementation increased testes’ redness and sperm viability, and intact males fed amino acids showed the greatest seminiferous tubule development. Thus, immunocastration may be a welfare-friendly alternative for venison production. Whilst the results support findings from the literature that testes size is not a reliable indicator of immunocastration success, this warrants further investigation in deer over different physiological development stages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Deer Physiology and Reproduction)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop