Rum red deer research project - History of deer research on Rum

History of Deer Research on Rum

Home Page The Deer Year History of Deer Research on Rum Kilmory Research Project

Meet the Deer Research Findings Publication List People

arispoint The island of Rum was acquired by the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) in 1958. One of the primary purposes of the purchase was to use the island as an outdoor laboratory where it was possible to conduct long-term ecological studies. In particular, it was intended to use Rum for studies of the ecology of red deer, and research on the island’s population started immediately after its purchase and has continued since then. Red deer research on Rum has provided the basis for much of our understanding of the ecology and biology of Scottish red deer populations and has been widely used in the development of management regimes for red deer populations throughout Europe.

Since 1958 there have been three major phases of research on red deer on Rum:

Research led by scientists from the NCC and Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (including VPW Lowe, B Mitchell and B Staines) investigated the grazing ecology and population demography of red deer throughout the island. These studies established age-specific patterns of growth, condition, fecundity and survival and assessed the use of different plant communities throughout the year.

Led by RV Short (Cambridge Veterinary School) the population of the North Block was used for studies of reproductive behaviour and the physiology of the antler cycle (GA Lincoln). Subsequent research focused on the reproductive cycle of females (TJ Fletcher) and established systems for the identification and marking of the stag and hind population in the North Block and for monitoring individual variation in breeding success (FE Guinness).

3) Research on behaviour, life histories, population dynamics and evolutionary genetics (1972-present )

Since 1972, research led by TH Clutton-Brock (Zoology, Cambridge) and funded bythe Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Biology and Biotechnology Research Council (BBSRC) has used the North Block deer population on Rum to investigate a wide range of questions concerning behaviour, population dynamics and the causes of individual variation in reproductive success in both sexes. By agreement with the Nature Conservancy Council, the annual cull of the North Block was terminated to allow investigation of the population dynamics of naturally regulated populations and to permit the animals to become habituated to close observation. Recognition systems designed by Fiona Guinness have provided a basis for monitoring the life histories of all individual deer regularly using the North Block since 1972. Research has involved more than 30 scientists based at Cambridge, Edinburgh and many other universities and institutes (Including FE Guinness, SD Albon, RM Gibson, M Hall, MC Appleby, C Thouless, P Marrow, M Major, L Condrat, K Rose, TN Coulson, LEB Kruuk, D Nussey) and has generated over 100 scientific papers and books.

In 1984, an associated project on the evolutionary genetics of the North Block population was initiated by JM Pemberton and with LEB Kruuk this research continues today at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Edinburgh. For more than 20 years samples have been collected from over 80% of calves born in the North Block and used to investigate the paternity success, population and quantitative genetics and inbreeding.

For more information on the current themes of research, see Research Findings and to learn more about how we study red deer go to the Kilmory Research Project. More information on the current red deer research team can be found in the People section.