Authors
G F Albery1; J M Pemberton1; 1 University of Edinburgh Discussion
The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is one of Europe’s most abundant large mammals, sharing much of its range with other wild and domestic ruminants, and like other ruminants it has a characteristic array of helminth parasites. However, there is surprisingly little published work on the epidemiology of red deer parasites, and what is known is mostly based on cross-sectional analysis of culled deer and therefore restricted to statutory culling seasons and deer of unknown life history. In January, April, August and November 2016 colleagues and I collected 1038 non-invasive faecal samples from 339 known individuals living in the individually-monitored red deer population in the North block of the Isle of Rum. I counted strongyle eggs, Fasciola hepatica eggs and larvae of the tissue worm Elaphostrongylus cervi at high precision. I will present analyses demonstrating high repeatability of counts within and between sampling periods and how they vary with sex, age and season and between the different parasite taxa. This study paves the way for investigation of a wider variety of factors that may affect individual counts including reproductive status, space use, genetics and immunity. 
