Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use

The level of neonate mortality in a free ranging fallow deer (Dama dama) population at the Koberg estate in south western Sweden was investigated using radio-tracking techniques. During this study a total of 36 fawns (17 ♂, 19 ♀) were captured and marked with vhf or gps radio collars; 12 fawns in 20...

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Autor principal: Svartholm, Ida
Formato: Second cycle, A2E
Lenguaje:sueco
Inglés
Publicado: 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/1086/
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author Svartholm, Ida
author_browse Svartholm, Ida
author_facet Svartholm, Ida
author_sort Svartholm, Ida
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description The level of neonate mortality in a free ranging fallow deer (Dama dama) population at the Koberg estate in south western Sweden was investigated using radio-tracking techniques. During this study a total of 36 fawns (17 ♂, 19 ♀) were captured and marked with vhf or gps radio collars; 12 fawns in 2008 and 24 fawns in 2009. The neonate mortality calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method was 23.6 % and the mortality caused by predation was low, since only 1 of 8 non-surviving fawns died from predation by red fox (Vulpes vulpes). The spatial behavior of the fallow deer neonates were examined at two different levels i.e. the habitat selection within their home-range, which would in fact be a selection made by the mother, and the bed-site selection within that habitat. Compositional analysis revealed a significant preference for the habitat classes arable land, pasture and coniferous forest between 5 - 15 m compared to the habitat class young forest. Visibility and canopy cover were estimated for selected and random bed-sites for fawns marked in 2009, and as expected the selected bed-sites showed significantly lower visibility and higher amount of canopy cover than the random sites. However, since there are few predators in this study area and predation pressure is low, this behavior is not connected to actual survival rates in this area, but would rather be an adaption to a previous history of higher predation pressure. This persistence of anti-predator behavior under relaxed selection is referred to as the "ghost of predators past" hypothesis.
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spelling RepoSLU10862012-04-20T14:12:21Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/1086/ Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use Svartholm, Ida Animal ecology The level of neonate mortality in a free ranging fallow deer (Dama dama) population at the Koberg estate in south western Sweden was investigated using radio-tracking techniques. During this study a total of 36 fawns (17 ♂, 19 ♀) were captured and marked with vhf or gps radio collars; 12 fawns in 2008 and 24 fawns in 2009. The neonate mortality calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method was 23.6 % and the mortality caused by predation was low, since only 1 of 8 non-surviving fawns died from predation by red fox (Vulpes vulpes). The spatial behavior of the fallow deer neonates were examined at two different levels i.e. the habitat selection within their home-range, which would in fact be a selection made by the mother, and the bed-site selection within that habitat. Compositional analysis revealed a significant preference for the habitat classes arable land, pasture and coniferous forest between 5 - 15 m compared to the habitat class young forest. Visibility and canopy cover were estimated for selected and random bed-sites for fawns marked in 2009, and as expected the selected bed-sites showed significantly lower visibility and higher amount of canopy cover than the random sites. However, since there are few predators in this study area and predation pressure is low, this behavior is not connected to actual survival rates in this area, but would rather be an adaption to a previous history of higher predation pressure. This persistence of anti-predator behavior under relaxed selection is referred to as the "ghost of predators past" hypothesis. 2010-04-23 Second cycle, A2E NonPeerReviewed application/pdf swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/1086/1/Svartholm_i_100422.pdf Svartholm, Ida, 2010. Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/OID-415.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-8-484 eng
spellingShingle Animal ecology
Svartholm, Ida
Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use
title Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use
title_full Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use
title_fullStr Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use
title_full_unstemmed Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use
title_short Neonate mortality in fallow deer (Dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use
title_sort neonate mortality in fallow deer (dama dama) in relation to bed-site selection and habitat use
topic Animal ecology
url https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/1086/
https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/1086/