Behaviour 153 (2016) 49–67 brill.com/beh Quantifying dominance of adult female white-tailed deer in the presence of abundant food Eric S. Michel a,∗ , Stephen Demarais a , Bronson K. Strickland a , Jerrold L. Belant b and Joshua J. Millspaugh c a Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Deer Ecology and Management Laboratory, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA b Carnivore Ecology Laboratory, Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA c Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA * Corresponding author’s e-mail address: esm120@msstate.edu Accepted 17 September 2015; published online 14 October 2015 Abstract Dominance is a behavioural mechanism that allows individuals to access and monopolize resources which should ultimately improve their fitness. Hierarchy strength should be strongest when re- sources are limited; however, this relationship is not consistent. We provided abundant food to assess whether hierarchy strength was consistent with resource abundance using 9 groups of cap- tive female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We further assessed how body mass, age and testosterone levels were associated with rank position. Deer displayed a weak hierarchy with a mean linearity (h ′ ) of 0.39 (SD = 0.09) and a mean directional consistency index of 0.83 (SD = 0.06). Rank was related to body mass (p = 0.004, slope = 0.011), but not age or testosterone levels (p  0.163). We demonstrate that hierarchy strength was weak in the presence of abundant food resources and suggest the possibility that dominance is a plastic behaviour that may vary with resource abundance. Keywords dominance, food abundance, hierarchy strength, white-tailed deer. 1. Introduction The types of behaviour an animal displays may directly influence its abil- ity to survive and reproduce. Thus, there are trade-offs to the type of be- haviour displayed. Negative consequences generally are associated with  Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2016 DOI 10.1163/1568539X-00003323