Population Dynamics and Ecology of Large Herbivores

Large herbivores play a pivotal role in terrestrial ecosystems by structuring plant communities, influencing nutrient cycles and shaping predator–prey interactions. Their population dynamics emerge from the interplay of birth rates, juvenile and adult survival, migration and dispersal, and density-dependent feedbacks. Reproductive timing is often tied to seasonal resource peaks, yet phenological mismatch with vegetation can depress juvenile recruitment. Nutritional status, driven by primary productivity and habitat quality, governs body condition, reproductive output and survival. Predation and disease impose additional mortality, sometimes interacting with nutritional stress to alter life-history trajectories. Advances in telemetry, remote sensing and molecular ecology have deepened our understanding of movement patterns, spatial resource selection and genetic responses to environmental change. Improved statistical models now link individual behaviour to population-level trends, allowing more accurate forecasts under shifting climates and land-use regimes. Integrating physiological, behavioural and demographic perspectives has revealed how large herbivores buffer environmental variability, maintain ecosystem resilience and respond to anthropogenic pressures worldwide.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have shown that reproductive phenology in free-living reindeer is not tightly coupled to individual energy reserves. Although seasonal breeding generally aligns parturition with peak forage availability, analyses of body mass and fat stores revealed weak predictors of conception timing in two Rangifer populations. This finding emphasises that phenological plasticity arises from complex neuroendocrine controls integrating environmental cues rather than simple energetic thresholds. It also helps explain growing temporal mismatches between plant green-up and calving dates under climate warming.

Population Dynamics and Ecology of Large Herbivores publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in population dynamics and ecology of large herbivores across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Phenology: Timing of recurring biological events (e.g., flowering, breeding) in relation to seasonal climate.

Parturition: The act of giving birth in mammals.

Phenotypic plasticity: Capacity of an organism to alter its physiology or behaviour in response to environmental variation.

Density dependence: Regulatory processes in which population growth rates change as a function of population size.

Change-point model: Statistical method for detecting an abrupt shift in time-series data indicating behavioural or state transitions.

References

1. Weak coupling between energetic status and the timing of reproduction in an Arctic ungulate. Scientific Reports (2024).
2. Change-point models for identifying behavioral transitions in wild animals. Movement Ecology (2023).
3. The role of selection and evolution in changing parturition date in a red deer population. PLOS Biology (2019).
4. Mismatch Between Birth Date and Vegetation Phenology Slows the Demography of Roe Deer. PLOS Biology (2014).