Fig 1.
Relative frequencies of the number of CL in roe deer females of different age classes in Slovenia in the period 2013–2015 (n = 1312).
Note that age was estimated using macroscopic inspection of tooth-wear, a method that is less accurate (especially) in older animals.
Fig 2.
Age-dependent differences in mean eviscerated body mass and potential reproductive output (number of CL, including infertile individuals) in roe deer females in Slovenia (n = 1312).
Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean. Note that age was estimated using macroscopic inspection of tooth-wear, a method that is less accurate (especially) in older animals.
Table 1.
Bivariate analyses of the effects of age and body mass on the reproductive potential (fertility, potential litter size) of roe deer females in Slovenia.
Relations between variables (their categories are listed in parentheses) were analysed by tests for homogeneity. The results of each of eight analyses are presented in each row.
Fig 3.
Potential reproductive output (number of CL, including infertile individuals) of roe deer females in relation to body mass by age category.
Age categories are as follows: yearlings (15–19 months old), young to middle-aged adults (2–7 years old), and older adults (8+ years old). Samples were pooled based on the body mass of individuals into five groups with an equal number of units across the total sample set (for intervals, see marks above the X axis). In the case of the first and the last body mass groups, dots are horizontally positioned on the mean body mass of all individuals in these two groups. Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean.
Table 2.
Generalized linear models of fertility (n = 1312) and potential litter size (n = 1280) of subadult and adult roe deer females in Slovenia (2013–2015).
The independent variables were age (yearlings vs. adults), body mass (covariate), body mass × age interaction, and year (2013, 2014 vs. 2015; fixed factor). Model selection was performed by the Akaike information criteria (AIC). For the best model, basic statistics are displayed, while for other models with ΔAIC < 2 only the model structure and ΔAIC are shown.
Table 3.
Generalized linear models of fertility (n = 1007) and potential litter size (n = 993) of adult roe deer females in Slovenia (2013–2015).
The independent variables were age (2–7 years vs. 8+ years), body mass (covariate), body mass × age interaction, and year (2013, 2014 vs. 2015; fixed factor). Model selection was performed using the Akaike information criteria (AIC). For the best model, basic statistics are displayed, while for other models with ΔAIC < 2 only the model structure and ΔAIC are shown.