Roe deer (Capreolus spp.) are a little odd. They are one
of only a few placental mammals — and the only genus among even-toed
ungulates — capable of putting embryonic development “on ice”, also
known as embryonic diapause (Fig. 1). It would seem such an unusual
trait is likely the product of natural selection, but a big question is,
how does selection for important traits, such as diapause, interact with
the historical demography of a species? In a ‘From the Cover’ article in
this issue of Molecular Ecology, de Jong et al. (2020)
demonstrate that selection is acting on genes associated with
reproductive biology in roe deer, despite heightened genetic drift due
to reduced effective population size through the Pleistocene.
[ Emily Warschefsky to provide photo of roe deer from
authors]