The influence of early-life allocation to antlers on male performance during adulthood: evidence from contrasted populations of a large herbivore

1. To secure mating opportunities, males often develop and maintain conspicuous traits that are involved in intra-sexual and/or inter-sexual competition. While current models of sexual selection rely on the assumption that producing such traits is costly, quantifying the cost of allocating to secondary sexual traits remains challenging. 2. According to the principle of allocation, high energy allocation to growth or sexual traits in males should lead to reduced energy allocation to the maintenance of cellular and physiological functions, potentially causing them to age faster, with impaired survival. 3. We evaluated the short-term and delayed consequences of energy allocation to antlers early in life in two contrasted populations of roe deer, Capreolus capreolus. Although most males mate successfully for the first time in their fourth year, antlers are grown annually from the first year of life onwards. We tested the prediction that a high level of allocation to antler growth during the...