Movement and nutritional data of mule deer in Western Wyoming (December 2013–December 2021)

For species that inhabit environments where resource availability may be unpredictable, balance of resource allocation to life-history traits can have heightened consequences for survival, reproduction, and ultimately, fitness. Acquisition and allocation of energy to maintenance, capital gain, and reproduction should be in tune with the landscape an animal inhabits—environmental severity, food availability, and population size all influence the resources animals have and dictate the ways they should be allocated.
In seasonal environments, animals that experience periods of extreme resource limitation (e.g., harsh winters) may favor allocation of resources to body reserves to secure their survival at the cost of reproduction (i.e., risk-averse). In contrast, the same accumulation of body reserves may not be necessary to survive in relatively benign landscapes where instead, allocation to reproduction is favored (i.e., risk-prone).
According to theory of risk-sensitive allocation of reso...