User talk:Rachelsmiley

Hello, Rachelsmiley, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Ian and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

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If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:52, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

Mule deer are Ruminants, meaning they employ a nutrient acquisition strategy of fermenting plant material before digesting it.

4. Many subspecies of mule deer are migratory, and encounter variable habitats and forage quality throughout the season. Forages consumed in the summer are higher in digestible components (i.e. proteins, starches, sugars, and hemicellulose) than those consumed in the winter. The average gross energy content of the consumed forage material is 4.5 kcal/g. Due to fluctuations in forage quality and availability, mule deer fat storage varies throughout the year, with the most fat stored in October, which is depleted throughout the winter to the lowest levels of fat storage in March.

When consuming high fiber, low starch diets require less food than those consuming high starch, low fiber diets and increased rumination time which allows for increased nutrient acquisition due to greater length of fermentation. Total body fat is a measure of the individual’s energy reserves while thyroid hormone concentrations are a metric to determine the deer’s ability to utilize the fat reserves. Triiodothryionine (T3) hormone is directly involved with basal metabolic rate and thermoregulation. Changes in hormone levels are indications of physiological adjustments to the changes in the habitat.

Physiological Ecology of Animals

The article on mule deer gives a good overview of identifying physical characteristics, taxonomy, diet, and behavior. While diet is extensively reported, the article could be much more detailed about physiology, and particularly nutrition. The article goes into great detail about exactly what mule deer eat, but does not go any further into acquisition, quality, energy requirements, or seasonality of the diet. The article also only mentions once migratory behavior of mule deer, which could be greatly expanded upon. I also think that more information about life history could be added.

The article on mule deer gives a good overview of identifying physical characteristics, taxonomy, diet, and behavior. While diet is extensively reported, the article could be much more detailed about physiology, and particularly nutrition. The article goes into great detail about exactly what mule deer eat, but does not go any further into acquisition, quality, energy requirements, or seasonality of the diet. The article also only mentions once migratory behavior of mule deer, which could be greatly expanded upon. I also think that more information about life history could be added.