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Morphologic variation in the mandible of the white‐tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ): A study of populational skeletal variation by principal component and canonical analyses
Author(s) -
Rees John W.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.1051280106
Subject(s) - odocoileus , biology , principal component analysis , sexual dimorphism , population , variation (astronomy) , mandible (arthropod mouthpart) , dentition , range (aeronautics) , canonical analysis , geographic variation , zoology , demography , genus , statistics , mathematics , paleontology , physics , materials science , sociology , astrophysics , composite material
A principal component analysis revealed that the two major components of mandibular shape variation among individuals within breeding groups of white‐tailed deer in Canada and the United States involve contrasts between the mandible and the dentition and between the premolars and the molars. Size variation appeared to account for 34% of the total variation within the groups, and the two major shape variations accounted for 23% and 8% respectively. A canonical analysis was used to identify the major components of mandibular variation among the breeding groups and to provide measures of the proportion of the total variation accounted for by each component. Among male groups, size variation was associated with latitude, and the major shape variation was closely associated with longitude, so a bivariate plot of the first two canonical variates reflected the general geographic orientation of the populations. The mandibular size in a Tennessee population that descended from Wisconsin and Michigan ancestors appears to have not decreased appreciably in the more southerly habitat after introduction more than 20 years ago. Changes in range conditions in eastern Upper Michigan over the past 30 years have not influenced local mandibular morphology as reflected by the first two canonical variates. Regardless of general smallness of individuals, the mandibular morphology of the deer from the Cross Timbers area in Kansas appears to approximate more closely that of northern populations than that of the more southerly populations from Oklahoma and Texas. Sexual dimorphism on the first two canonical axes was observed.