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Regional assessment on influence of landscape configuration and connectivity on range size of white-tailed deer |
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| Authors: | W David Walter Kurt C VerCauteren Henry Campa III William R Clark Justin W Fischer Scott E Hygnstrom Nancy E Mathews Clayton K Nielsen Eric M Schauber Timothy R Van Deelen Scott R Winterstein |
| Institution: | 1. Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Colorado State University, 201 Wagar Buildling, 1484 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA 2. United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, National Wildlife Research Center, 4101 LaPorte Ave., Fort Collins, CO, 80521, USA 3. United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, 4101 LaPorte Ave., Fort Collins, CO, 80521, USA 4. Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, Room 13 Natural Resources, East Lansing, MI, 48824-1222, USA 5. Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, 253 Bessey Hall, Ames, IA, 50011, USA 6. School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, 415 Hardin Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0974, USA 7. Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 115E Science Hall, 550 North Park Street, Madison, WI, 53706, USA 8. Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory and Department of Zoology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA 9. Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, WI, 53706-1568, USA |
| Abstract: | Variation in the size of home range of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has broad implications for managing populations, agricultural damage, and disease spread and transmission. Size of home range of deer also varies seasonally because plant phenology dictates the vegetation types that are used as foraging or resting sites. Knowledge of the landscape configuration and connectivity that contributes to variation in size of home range of deer for the region is needed to fully understand differences and similarities of deer ecology throughout the Midwest. We developed a research team from four Midwestern states to investigate how size of home range of deer in agro-forested landscapes is influenced by variations in landscape characteristics that provide essential habitat components. We found that for resident female deer, annual size of home range in Illinois (mean = 0.99 km2), Michigan (mean = 1.34 km2), Nebraska (mean = 1.20 km2), and Wisconsin (mean = 1.47 km2) did not differ across the region (F 3,175 = 0.42, P = 0.737), but differences between agricultural growing and nongrowing periods were apparent. Variables influencing size of home range included: distance to forests, roads, and urban development from the centroid of deer home range, and percent of crop as well as four landscape pattern indices (contrast-weighted edge density, mean nearest neighbor, area-weighted mean shape index, and patch size coefficient of variation). We also identified differences in model selection for four landscapes created hierarchically to reflect levels of landscape connectivity determined from perceived ability of deer to traverse the landscape. Connectivity of selected forested regions within agro-forested ecosystems across the Midwest plays a greater role in understanding the size of home ranges than traditional definitions of deer habitat conditions and landscape configuration. |
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