Forage, forest structure or landscape: What drives roe deer habitat use in a fragmented multiple-use forest ecosystem?

Abstract

Browsing damages to young trees can have lasting impacts on forest structure. Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), the most common and widespread large herbivore in central Europe, create a vast majority of this damage. To lessen the impact, it is important to understand the relationship between roe deer and the landscape matrix, and which factors such as food availability and cover will drive the use of habitat by roe deer. In this study, we explored how small scale-food availability (5 × 5 m2), forest structure (100 × 100 m2) and landscape heterogeneity (500 m radius) influenced the use of habitat by roe deer in an intensively managed temperate mountainous mixed forest with implemented retention forestry practices. Using camera-trap detections of roe deer from 130 study plots in the southern Black Forest, monitored for 2.5 years, we found that local forest structure had the strongest influence on roe deer habitat use. Contrary to our expectations, landscape features, such as edge density between forest and non-forest, did not affect roe deer detections, probably because overall anthropogenic pressure is high and homogenous throughout our study system. Small-scale food availability also had little influence, which is likely due to widespread availability throughout the study area. Roe deer were also detected less where there were higher amounts of lying deadwood in autumn, indicating that retention forestry methods may have a negative impact on roe deer habitat use. Since forest structure was the strongest driver of roe deer habitat use, this study supports earlier claims that forests may be managed by affecting roe deer habitat use, thereby browsing damage intensity, through manipulation of food availability and cover.