Competitor densities, habitat, and weather: effects on interspecific interactions between wild deer species.

ABSTRACT: There is a growing interest on the potential interplay between weather, habitat, and interspecific competition on population dynamics of wild herbivores. Favorable environmental conditions may buffer the negative effects of competition; conversely, competition may be expected to be stronger under harsh environmental conditions. We investigated relationships between competitor abundance, weather, and habitat cover on density and local distribution of a medium-sized herbivore, the roe deer Capreolus capreolus, as well as its spatial overlap with fallow deer Dama dama in a Mediterranean protected area. Over 11 years (2007-2017), roe deer density was not affected by spring-summer rainfall in the previous year and decreased with increasing density of fallow deer in the previous year. Hence, ove

SUBMITTER: Ferretti F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8451872 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature