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Exploring individual quality in a wild population of red deer

Moyes, Kelly, Morgan, Byron J. T., Morris, Alison, Morris, Sean J., Clutton-Brock, Tim H., Coulson, Tim (2009) Exploring individual quality in a wild population of red deer. Journal of Animal Ecology, 78 (2). pp. 406-413. ISSN 0021-8790. (doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01497.x) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:20523)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01497.x

Abstract

A wide range of measures are used to quantify 'individual quality', with the term often used but not defined.

Here we use detailed data from a population of red deer (Cervus elaphus) to assess whether frequently used measures of individual quality are well correlated, and therefore likely to lead to comparable ecological and evolutionary insight in analyses.

Correlations between measures were usually small, indicating that individuals may be considered high quality for one trait, but low quality for another.

By using principal component analysis, we illustrate that there are potentially many varied individual life-history tactics within a population.

This variation in tactics makes it challenging to characterize individual quality as a simple scalar; measures of heterogeneity in ecological studies should therefore be both species and question specific.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01497.x
Uncontrolled keywords: fitness; individual heterogeneity; phenotypic variation; trade-offs
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics (inc Computing science) > QA276 Mathematical statistics
Q Science > QL Zoology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science
Funders: Natural Environment Research Council (https://ror.org/02b5d8509)
Depositing User: Byron Morgan
Date Deposited: 25 Sep 2009 08:28 UTC
Last Modified: 12 Jul 2022 10:39 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/20523 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Morgan, Byron J. T..

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