The effects of maternal stress on offspring survival in the fallow deer

“气候变化和人类引起的栖息地破碎化的影响导致了前所未有的全球生物多样性危机。因此，至关重要的是要了解影响弱势个人生存的条件。许多不同的因素促进生存：例如，个体的身体特征（如体重）之间的差异，父母照顾的数量，以及主要环境条件的变化，如捕食者密度和天气影响生存概率。然而，这些因素只能解释观察到的死亡率模式的有限比例，因此，我们对为什么有些人死亡的理解是不完整的，特别是在死亡率最高的青少年队列中[例如Tosa et al. 2018]。压力与死亡风险增加有关，有大量证据表明，母亲在怀孕期间的压力与后代的早期死亡率之间存在联系（Entringer等人，2011年）。越来越多的证据表明，发育中的胎儿会对母亲经历的情况作出反应，而暴露于压力可能会限制生命。本项目以休闲鹿为模式物种，目的是调查母鹿行为与压力之间的关系以及母鹿行为与死亡率之间的关系。学生将从都柏林凤凰公园的个体可识别的雌性休耕鹿中收集行为和环境数据。每年6月对小鹿进行标记，第一年的死亡率为30%。学生将观察怀孕的女性从交配到出生，记录喂养/休息率，警惕行为，人/狗接触和天气条件。将通过头发样本中存在的皮质醇水平来确定长期慢性母体压力的估计值（Koren et al. 2019）。因此，将有可能估计在何种程度上母亲的压力在胎儿发育预测小鹿的生存。学生将接受与收集实地行为数据有关的各种不同方法的培训。此外，他们将接受捕获、处理和测量小鹿的训练。他们还将接受从头发样本中提取激素的培训。该项目将涉及建立模型和全面培训有关行为和荷尔蒙的统计模型的应用和使用，并将提供人口动态模型。"

"The impact of climate change and human-induced habitat fragmentation has resulted in an unprecedented planet-wide biodiversity crisis. Thus, it is crucial to understand the conditions which influence the survival of vulnerable individuals. Many different factors promote survival: for example, differences between an individual's physical characteristics (e.g. body mass), the amount of parental care received, and changes in prevailing environmental conditions such as predator density and weather influence survival probability. However, these factors explain only a limited proportion of observed mortality patterns, thus, our understanding of why some individuals die, particularly within juvenile cohorts when mortality rates are among the highest, is incomplete [e.g. Tosa et al. 2018].Stress is associated with an increased risk of mortality, and there is considerable evidence of a link between maternal stress during pregnancy and early-life mortality in offspring (Entringer et al. 2011). Accumulating evidence indicates that the developing foetus responds to conditions experienced by the mother, and that exposure to stress may have life-limiting effects. Using the fallow deer as the model species, the objective of this project will be to investigate the association between maternal behaviour and stress and that of juvenile behaviour and mortality. The student will collect behavioural and environmental data from individually identifiable female fallow deer resident in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Fawns are tagged annually in June and a 30% mortality rate is experienced in the first year. The student will observe pregnant females from mating to birth, recording feeding/resting rates, vigilance behaviour, human/dog contact and weather conditions. Estimates of long-term chronic maternal stress will be determined through cortisol levels present in hair samples (Koren et al. 2019). It will therefore be possible to estimate the extent to which maternal stress during foetal development predicts fawn survival. The student will be trained in a variety of different methodologies relating to the collection of behavioural data in the field. In addition, they will be trained in the capture, handling and measurement of deer fawns. They will also receive training in the extraction of hormones from hair samples. The project will involve modelling and full training in the application and use of statistical models relating to behaviour and hormones, and the modelling of population dynamics will be provided."