Effects of season and physical condition on the gastrointestinal helminth community of white-tailed deer from the Texas Edwards Plateau.

Eighty-six adult female white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann), collected over a 12-mo period in the Texas Edwards Plateau, harbored six species of nematodes (Haemonchus contortus, Gongylonema pulchrum, Oesophagostomum venulosum, Ostertagia ostertagi, Cooperia sp., and Apteragia odocoilei), and two cestodes (Moniezia sp. and Taenia hydatigena). The patterns of distribution of the three common species of gastrointestinal helminths (H. contortus, O. venulosum, and G. pulchrum) were overdispersed. When analyzed for the main and interactive effects of the extrinsic and intrinsic variables of season and physical condition, respectively, aggregated abundances in H. contortus and O. venulosum appeared to result from the main effect of seasonal changes operating over the collective populations of these two species rather than from the intrinsic factor of physical condition operating within selected subpopulations. Abomasal parasite counts do not appear to be a useful index for monitoring herd condition of white-tailed deer from this geographic region.