ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2009
What does testosterone do for red deer males?
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed.
- Increases in fecal testosterone precede increases in fecal dehydroepiandrosterone in wild male mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2026Article
- A Case of Disorder of Sex Development in Red Deer (<italic>Cervus elaphus</italic>).Sexual development : genetics, molecular biology, evolution, endocrinology, embryology, and pathology of sex determination and differentiation · 2026Article
- Relationship Between Testosterone and Movement Patterns in Male Asian Black Bear (Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- An update on gastrointestinal nematodes in reindeer (International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025Article
- Proteomics of the Dark-Ventral-Patch Sexual Signal in Male Red Deer.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Noninvasive Assessment of Testosterone Levels and Male Sexual Behavior in Sambar Deer (Veterinary medicine international · 2025Article
- Captivity-associated variations in fecal testosterone and progesterone metabolite concentrations in mountain gazelle (Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- Effects of Immunocastration and Amino Acid Supplementation on Yearling Fallow Deer (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Pathomorphological Findings and Infectious Diseases in Selected European Brown Hare (Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Pre- and postcopulatory competition affect testes mass and organization differently in two monophyletic mole-rat species,Journal of mammalogy · 2023Article
- Long-Term Determinants of the Seroprevalence ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2020Article
- Social environment modulates investment in sex trait versus lifespan: red deer produce bigger antlers when facing more rivalry.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Long-Term Determinants of Tuberculosis in the Ungulate Host Community of Doñana National Park.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Testosterone and the dark ventral patch of male red deer: the role of the social environment.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2020Article
- The dark ventral patch: A bimodal flexible trait related to male competition in red deer.PloS one · 2020Article
- Seasonality of helminth infection in wild red deer varies between individuals and between parasite taxa.Parasitology · 2018Article
- Reciprocal relationships between behaviour and parasites suggest that negative feedback may drive flexibility in male reproductive behaviour.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
- Competition-related factors directly influence preferences for facial cues of dominance in allies.Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2016Article
- Early life expenditure in sexual competition is associated with increased reproductive senescence in male red deer.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2014Article
- Endoparasites of the fallow deer (Dama dama) of the Antheringer Au in Salzburg, Austria.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Testosterone has been proposed to have a dual effect, enhancing sexual traits while depressing parasite resistance in males. Here, we test this hypothesis in red deer, examining males from captive populations during the whole annual cycle and males from natural populations during the breeding season. We first explored the effects of body size, age and sampling date on testosterone to avoid confounding effects. Our results show that in captive populations seasonal changes in testosterone levels were mirrored by changes in testes size, and that during the rut there was a strong correlation between both. In natural populations, males with higher testosterone levels had larger testes, improved sperm quality, smaller burr diameter, stronger antlers, higher haematocrit levels, and increased nematode parasite load. By contrast, no significant relationship was found between testosterone and spleen size or tick parasite load. We conclude that testosterone (i) improves males' reproductive investment and physical stamina, (ii) improves antler strength but reduces burr diameter, and (iii) imposes a cost in terms of depressed parasite resistance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.