Data for: Reproductive tactics, birth timing and the risk-resource trade-off in an income breeder

In variable environments, habitats that are rich in resources often carry
a higher risk of predation. As a result, natural selection should favour
individuals that balance allocation of time to foraging versus avoiding
predation through an optimal decision-making process that maximises
fitness. The behavioural trade-off between resource acquisition and risk
avoidance is expected to be particularly acute during gestation and
lactation when the energetic demands of reproduction peak. Here, we
investigated how reproductive female roe deer adjust their foraging
activity and habitat use during the birth period to manage this trade-off
compared to non-reproductive juveniles, and how parturition date
constrains individual tactics of risk-resource management. Activity of
reproductive females more than doubled immediately following parturition,
when energy demand is highest. Furthermore, compared to non-reproductive
juveniles, they increased their exposure to risk by using open habitat
more during daytime and ranging closer to roads. However, these
post-partum modifications in behaviour were particularly pronounced in
late-parturient females who adopted a more risk-prone tactic, presumably
to compensate for the growth handicap of their late-born offspring. In
income breeders, individuals that give birth late may be constrained to
trade risk avoidance for foraging during peak allocation to reproduction,
with probable consequences for individual fitness.