Department of Biology, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39269, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011 Jun;8(6):2556-64. doi: 10.3390/ijerph8062556. Epub 2011 Jun 23.
Soil productivity effects nutritive quality of food plants, growth of humans and animals, and reproductive health of domestic animals. Game-range surveys sometimes poorly explained variations in wildlife populations, but classification of survey data by major soil types improved effectiveness. Our study evaluates possible health effects of lower condition and reproductive rates for wild populations of Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman (white-tailed deer) in some physiographic regions of Mississippi. We analyzed condition and reproductive data for 2400 female deer from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks herd health evaluations from 1991-1998. We evaluated age, body mass (Mass), kidney mass, kidney fat mass, number of corpora lutea (CL) and fetuses, as well as fetal ages. Region affected kidney fat index (KFI), which is a body condition index, and numbers of fetuses of adults (P≤0.001). Region affected numbers of CL of adults (P≤0.002). Mass and conception date (CD) were affected (P≤0.001) by region which interacted significantly with age for Mass (P≤0.001) and CD (P<0.04). Soil region appears to be a major factor influencing physical characteristics of female deer.
土壤生产力影响食物植物的营养质量、人类和动物的生长以及家畜的生殖健康。狩猎区调查有时无法很好地解释野生动物种群的变化，但通过主要土壤类型对调查数据进行分类可以提高效率。我们的研究评估了密西西比州某些地貌区域白尾鹿（Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman）野生种群的较低状况和繁殖率可能对健康产生的影响。我们分析了密西西比州野生动物、渔业和公园部门从 1991 年至 1998 年进行的 2400 只雌鹿的健康评估数据。我们评估了年龄、体重（Mass）、肾脏质量、肾脏脂肪质量、黄体（CL）和胎儿数量以及胎儿年龄。受地区影响的肾脏脂肪指数（KFI），这是一个身体状况指数，以及成年动物的胎儿数量（P≤0.001）。地区影响成年动物的黄体数量（P≤0.002）。体重和受孕日期（CD）受地区影响（P≤0.001），体重（P≤0.001）和 CD（P<0.04）与年龄存在显著相互作用。土壤区域似乎是影响雌鹿身体特征的主要因素。
