Size of winter home range of roe deer Capreolus capreolus in two forest areas with artificial feeding in Sweden

Abstract

The size of the winter home range of female roe deer Capreolus capreolus was studied in Sweden in a boreal area, Grimsö, and in a boreo‐nemoral area, Bogesund. The home range size of each roe deer was based on 48–72 radio‐locations collected from late January to early March. The average size of the winter home range was similar in the two areas, i.e. about 60 ha. No significant differences were found between home range sizes based on minimum convex polygon and harmonic mean 95%. The mean size of core areas (harmonic mean 50%) differed significantly between study areas. Snow depth was identified as an important factor influencing the size of home ranges. In the boreal forest, snow cover lowered the availability of the main food for the roe deer, i.e. dwarf‐shrubs, resulting in roe deer concentrating around artificial feeding sites.

LiDAR Remote Sensing of Forest Structure and GPS Telemetry Data Provide Insights on Winter Habitat Selection of European Roe Deer

“…This result is in line with a study by Guillet et al [50], who observed that roe deer tended to concentrate around artificial feeding places at extreme weather conditions in winter. This is not surprising as roe deer only store small fat reserves and individuals have to cover most of their energy by permanent food intake [12].…”

“…Our finding underlines that low food availability is one of the major challenges roe deer face under harsh winter conditions. However, average distances to artificial feeding places in our study were fairly high compared to that observed by Guillet et al [50]. Although most of the animals appeared at least once in close proximity to these places, animals typically kept a distance for most of the time.…”

Testing Cort-Fitness and Cort-Adaptation hypotheses in a habitat suitability gradient for roe deer

“…Sampling procedures were designed according to species home range and behavior to maximize the number of individuals sampled and to minimize the effects of anonymous sampling (over-or under representation of same individuals to the detriment of others, Huber et al, 2003). Thus, our sampling plots (50 ha) are close to the average home ranges of both male and female roe deer, reviewed in (Guillet et al, 1996). As females have overlapping home ranges (Blottner et al, 1996), several females and their offspring and yearly fawns can share a same territory.…”

“…Three to four populations were studied in each habitat (Table S1). A roe deer population was defined as an individual or group of individuals partly inhabiting a 50 ha home range centered on the sampling location (Guillet et al, 1996). To maximize the number of individuals sampled, we established three to four 50 ha plots per habitat type separated by at least 2 km (Fig.…”

The composition of the autumn and winter diets in two Polish populations of fallow deer

“…Potentially winter supplementary feeding may affect deer ecology in various populations in various ways (eg Verme and Ozoga 1980, Ozoga and Verme 1982, Boutin 1990, Guillet et al 1996, Doenier et al 1997, however, these effects in Poland remain unstudied. In fact, there is not even much documentation as to the extent to which deer use this artificial supply of food.…”