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The Influence of Landscape Structure on Female Roe Deer Home-range Size

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Abstract

Animal distribution and abundance are greatly affected by the availability of their food resources, which also depends on landscape structure. Lothar hurricane in 1999 had profoundly modified the structure of the forests in France, affecting the habitat quality of ungulates. We tested whether the variations in home-range size of 23 female roe deer were influenced by the fragmentation of the landscape caused by Lothar in the Chizé forest, namely by the increase in heterogeneity associated with the localized massive tree felling. Home-range size was studied in the summers of 2001 and 2002 and we found that variation in home-range size was mainly explained by only one landscape variable: edge density. Home-range size decreased as edge density increased, which is consistent with the fact that edges are good browsing habitats for roe deer. The result of this study suggests that, after 2 years, the hurricane had improved the quality of the home ranges by creating more forest heterogeneity and increasing the contacts between the different vegetation patches within the home range. These results highlight the fact that spatial heterogeneity is likely to be a key factor influencing the distribution and local population density.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS-CEBC, UPR 1934, BP 14 Villiers en Bois, 79360, Beauvoir sur Niort, France

    Sonia Saïd & Sabrina Servanty

  2. Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Centre National d’Etudes et de Recherches Appliquées sur les Cervidés-Sangliers, 85bis avenue de Wagram, 75017, Paris, France

    Sonia Saïd

  3. Unité Mixte de Recherche 5558, Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bâtiment 711, 43 bd du 11, 69 622, Villeurbanne Cedex, novembre1918, France

    Sabrina Servanty

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  1. Sonia Saïd
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Correspondence to Sonia Saïd.

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Saïd, S., Servanty, S. The Influence of Landscape Structure on Female Roe Deer Home-range Size. Landscape Ecol 20, 1003–1012 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-005-7518-8

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