Molar wear rates in Sika deer during three population phases: increasing versus decline and post-decline phases

抄録

Wear rates of lower first molars (M₁) in Sika deer, Cervus nippon, were compared among the increasing, declining and post-decline phases of population dynamics on Nakanoshima Island, Hokkaido, Japan, to evaluate the effects of food limitations on deer feeding ecology. Teeth specimens were collected also from a population in eastern Hokkaido, as a control, where foods were abundant. The maximum length and width of M₁ were not different among the three phases. A linear regression coefficient for log-transformed M₁ height against age was not different between males and females, but significantly smaller in the post-decline phase population than in the increasing phase and the control populations. The results suggest that M₁ wear rates increased as food declined.