Six scat‐analysis methods were compared and tested for differential assessment of a wolf Canis lupus diet in the Northern Apennine Mountains, Italy. A sample of 217 wolf scats was analysed using standardised laboratory techniques, and the recovered undigested remains were quantified according to the following diet measurements: frequency of occurrence, dry weight (estimated and measured), relative volume, and biomass ingested (two methods). With the exception of one of the biomass methods, there was no significant disagreement between the procedures examined. However, some discrepancies between rankings from different methods indicated the sources of bias that should be accounted for to avoid misleading conclusions. Frequency data can be corrected to reduce some of the associated forms of bias, whereas rankings by weight and volume appear affected by the structure of undigested remains. Although to different extents, all the methods which rank food items according to direct measures of the undigested remains, i.e. by frequency, weight, and volume, suffer from the surface to volume ratio bias of varying prey sizes. Linear‐regression biomass models correct for the surface/volume bias, but there are some drawbacks when applying them, and they are limited to mammalian prey. Applicability of the biomass models should be evaluated on the basis of diet composition and prey sizes, and results carefully interpreted in concert with other field‐collected information. Interpretation of scat‐analysis data in order to assess the diet of wolves, as well as of other carnivores, would be greatly enhanced by comparing results obtained with two or more methods.

The demography of roe deer living in a mountain area of central Italy was studied from 1995 to 1999 with 104 radio-tagged animals, including fawns and adults of both sexes. From spring surveys we estimated population density by mark-resighting (average: 53.8±4.8 individuals km) and found an average fawn/doe ratio of 0.75±0.4. The fawn/doe ratio was negatively correlated to density suggesting density-dependent regulation in this population. Using culled and net-trapped individuals we evaluated the dressed body weights of adult males (23.1±1.0 kg) and females (22.0±1.0 kg), which indicated a low level of sexual dimorphism. The potential litter size (1.44±0.1 embryos) depended on female body weight and a threshold of 20.9±1.4 kg separated adult females carrying one or two embryos. Both fawn (0.38±0.07) and adult survival (0.90±0.07) were evaluated from radiotagged individuals and no gender effect was observed in either age class. During the study period we recorded a population decline in one part of the study area and an increasing fawn mortality, which was attributed to the spreading of an enteropathogenic desease. The study revealed an unexpected spatial structure in population dynamics at a scale of few square kilometres. In the two studied subareas, which are very close and ecologically similar, we documented significant differences in several demographic parameters: females in the subarea with the highest deer density produced smaller litters and allocated their reproductive effort preferentially to males, which is consistent with the hypothesis that local resource competition determines sex allocation in roe deer. The importance of spatial variability with respect to roe deer demography was overlooked in previous studies and our results raise new interesting research questions relative to the study of population equilibria which are also relevant for the management of this important game species.

SUMMARYWe used distance sampling (line transects) and mark-resight to estimate habitat and local area (area size, range: 3.9±44.5 ha) population density of ungulates. The distance sampling study was performed on fallow deer (Dama dama), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) in a mediterranean forest. The mark-resight study was performed on a roe deer population in a hilly area of the Apennines. The ®rst study allowed us to estimate the animal density into four different habitats (deciduous oak wood, evergreen oak wood, maquis and open areas with domestic-pine woods). The between habitat differences of population density are large for the three species: fallow deer are more abundant in the open areas (22.22 heads/km 2

Patterns of roe deer Capreolus capreolus body development are particularly interesting in view of the wide distribution range and different habitat conditions faced by the species throughout Europe. In order to investigate patterns of roe deer fawn body development in a sub‐Mediterranean ecosystem, we caught 78 fawns during the four fawning seasons of 1997–2000. We investigated the effect of gender and date and year of birth on body mass of fawns in their first month of life. In agreement with earlier studies, there was a period of linear growth during which we found no differences in body mass between the sexes. Body mass varied significantly between years. The mean birth weight of 1,500 g did not show overall yearly variations, but fawns were heavier in 2000 than in 1998. Daily weight gain was more variable between years with fawns born in 2000 growing faster than fawns born in 1999 and 1997. Lastly, when fawns were split into two categories according to birth weight, light‐born fawns had a significantly faster body development than heavy‐born fawns. Therefore, we suggest that roe deer fawns may compensate for a low weight at birth. Such a compensatory process allows light‐born fawns to catch up with heavy‐born fawns by the end of their first month of life.

Backgound Throughout its range, red deer is a well-studied species. In Italy the species occupies two ecologically different ranges: the Alps and the Apennine. Although several studies have described spatial behaviour of red deer in the Italian Alps, no data are available for the Apennine population. Results Spatial behaviour of 13 deer from Northern Apennine range was analysed for the first-time using GPS-GSM telemetry, from 2011 to 2017. Red deer displayed two different strategies coexisting in the population, i.e., migratory and stationary. Females tend to migrate more than males. We found a high level of inter individual variability in the date of migration/return, while each migratory deer is very conservative during the study period. Migration ranges are on average 12±4.2 km far apart from the resident range. Both migratory and resident deer displayed high site fidelity. No switch from migratory to stationary strategy was observed for any deer during the study period, which however could have been too short to detect any switch. At management level, a spatial mismatch was found between deer range and management units (districts) in 44.4% of the cases. Merging the districts belonging of each province to obtain an area of approximately 1.000 km 2 would partially solve such spatial mismatch reducing it to 22%. Conclusions Despite the low sample size, these results can provide guidance for future management actions. An in-dept study with a higher sample size is however required to better understand and manage the red deer Apennine population.