Results
For DNA samples collected from hair, a total of 23 adult deer (13 males, 10 females) were sampled, ranging from 1 yr to 8 yr old (3.36+1.9 yr) on the basis of a palpated tooth shape (Reuter and Nelson 2018). Anesthesia was uncomplicated, with no observed injuries or capture myopathy. After anesthetic reversal, the deer recovered quickly; most were ambulatory within 5 min. All deer appeared healthy and robust following the capture session. For DNA samples collected from fecal, 56 samples were used for this analysis. However, only 42 individuals had data for at least 10 microsatellites from the entire data set and were used in the final analysis. Some of the fecal samples came from the same individuals, which further reduced our sample from 80 down to 42.
When compared to other populations of Odocoileus virginianus from the continental United States, as well as Canada and Mexico, the deer population of St. John possesses the second lowest allelic richness (A) of all of the comparison populations compared (Table 1), but observed heterozygosity is similar to other populations (0.54) (Table 1). There is little evidence of inbreeding in the St. John population of white-tailed deer – the FIS value does not differ significantly from zero.