Abstract
The sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis) population in the Ramsar-listed Kushiro Wetland has increased in recent years, and the Ministry of the Environment of Japan has decided to take measures to reduce the impact of deer on the ecosystem. However, seasonal movement patterns of the deer (i.e., when and where the deer inhabit the wetland) remain unclear. We examined the seasonal movement patterns of sika deer in the Kushiro Wetland from 2013 to 2015 by analyzing GPS location data for 28 hinds captured at three sites in the wetland. Seasonal movement patterns were quantitatively classified as seasonal migration, mixed, dispersal, nomadic, resident, or atypical, and the degree of wetland utilization for each individual was estimated. The area of overlap for each individual among intra-capture sites and inter-capture sites was calculated for the entire year and for each season. Our results showed that the movement patterns of these deer were classified not only as resident but also as seasonal migration, dispersal, and atypical. Approximately one-third of the individuals moved into and out of the wetland during the year as either seasonal migrants or individuals with atypical movement. Some of the individuals migrated to farmland areas outside the wetland (the farthest being 69.9 km away). Half of the individuals inhabited the wetland all or most of the year, i.e., 81–100% of their annual home range was within the wetland area. Even among individuals captured at the same site, different seasonal movement patterns were identified. The overlap areas of the home ranges of individuals from the same capture sites were larger than those for individuals from different capture sites (e.g., mean of annual home range overlap with intra-capture sites: 47.7% vs. inter-sites: 1.3%). To achieve more effective ecosystem management including deer management in the wetland, management plans should cover inside and outside of the wetland and separate the population into multiple management units to address the different movement patterns and wetland utilization of the population.
Highlights
In recent decades, numerous regions in the Northern Hemisphere have experienced increasing cervid populations and expansion of their distributions resulting in significant impacts to natural ecosystems (Côte et al, 2004)
A total 16 individuals were classified as atypical, with the classified movement type differing between the net squared displacement (NSD) method and Overlap method (Table S1)
These results indicate that the sika deer population in Kushiro Wetland is a partially migratory
Summary
Numerous regions in the Northern Hemisphere have experienced increasing cervid populations and expansion of their distributions resulting in significant impacts to natural ecosystems (Côte et al, 2004). Cervids can cause substantial impacts to ecosystem processes and functions through the alteration of plant biomass and community composition (Rooney & Waller, 2003; Côte et al, 2004). Seasonal migratory and non-migratory individuals coexist within the same population This phenomenon is known as ‘‘partial migration’’ (e.g., Hebblewhite & Merrill, 2007; Bolger et al, 2008; Singh et al, 2012; White et al, 2014). Understanding how many individuals in a population migrate as well as the migration start and end points are valuable information for ungulate conservation and management (Bolger et al, 2008; Singh & Milner-Gulland, 2011; White et al, 2014), and for better understanding the ecosystem that they inhabit
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