Abstract
Effective landscape-scale management of source-sink deer populations will be strengthened by understanding whether local variation in habitat quality drives heterogeneity in productivity. We related female roe deer Capreolus capreolus fecundity and body mass to habitat composition and landscape context, separately for adults and yearlings, using multi-model inference (MMI) applied to a large sample of individuals (yearlings: fecundity = 202, body mass = 395; adults: fecundity = 908, body mass = 1669) culled during 2002-2015 from an extensive (195 km2) heterogeneous forest landscape. Adults were heavier (inter-quartile, IQ, effect size = +0.5kg) when culled in buffers comprising more arable lands while contrary to our prediction no effects on body mass of grassland, young forest or access to vegetation on calcareous soil were found. Heavier adults were more fertile (IQ effect size, +12% probability of having two embryos instead of one or zero). Counter-intuitively, adults with greater access to arable lands were less fecund (IQ effect of arable: -7% probability of having two embryos, instead of one or zero), and even accounting for greater body mass of adults with access to arable, their modelled fecundity was similar to or lower than that of adults in the forest interior. In contrast, effects of grassland, young forest and calcareous soil did not receive support. Yearling body mass had an effect on fecundity twice that found in adults (+23% probability of having one additional embryo), but yearling body mass and fecundity were not affected by any candidate habitat or landscape variables. Effect of arable lands on body mass and fecundity were small, with little variance explained (Coefficient of Variation of predicted fecundity across forest sub-regions = 0.03 for adults). More variance in fecundity was attributed to other differences between forest management sub-regions (modelled as random effects), suggesting other factors might be important. When analysing source-sink population dynamics to support management, an average value of fecundity can be appropriate across a heterogeneous forest landscape.
Highlights
Deer populations are increasing in both North America and Europe [1,2,3], with important consequences for biodiversity, human health and traffic collisions [4,5,6]
Four deer species were present in the study area [7]: re-established native roe and red, naturalised fallow Dama dama, and introduced Reeves’s muntjac Muntiacus reevesi
Adult female roe deer were heavier when culled in localities comprising a greater percentage of arable lands (Figs 2 and 3)
Summary
Deer populations are increasing in both North America and Europe [1,2,3], with important consequences for biodiversity, human health and traffic collisions [4,5,6]. Context-specific, measures are required as deer fecundity can vary with both density [9,10] and landscape suitability [11,12,13]. Roe deer Capreolus capreolus fecundity and its relation with body mass vary substantially between populations. Fertility (the percentage of pregnant 2-year-old females) was lower in a Norwegian than in a French roe population of similar density, despite greater body mass [15]. Female roe deer with greater availability of preferred habitat within their winter home-range had larger litters in the subsequent spring [13]. In an enclosed roe deer population in Northern France, female lifetime reproductive success was positively associated with presence of open habitat edges within the home range and negatively associated with mature open forest [12]. Density and food availability influence red deer (Cervus elaphus) fertility [17]
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