Predation has a greater impact in less productive environments: variation in roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, population density across Europe

Aim: We aimed to describe the large-scale patterns in population density of roe deer Caprelous capreolus in Europe and to determine the factors shaping variation in their abundance. Location: Europe. Methods: We collated data on roe deer population density from 72 localities spanning 25° latitude an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global ecology and biogeography Vol. 18; no. 6; pp. 724 - 734
Main Authors:	Melis, Claudia, Jędrzejewska, Bogumiła, Apollonio, Marco, Bartoń, Kamil A., Jędrzejewski, Włodzimierz, Linnell, John D.C., Kojola, Ilpo, Kusak, Josip, Adamic, Miha, Ciuti, Simone, Delehan, Ivan, Dykyy, Ihor, Krapinec, Krešimir, Mattioli, Luca, Sagaydak, Andrey, Samchuk, Nikolay, Schmidt, Krzysztof, Shkvyrya, Maryna, Sidorovich, Vadim E., Zawadzka, Bernadetta, Zhyla, Sergey
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-11-2009 Blackwell Publishing Blackwell
Subjects:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Biogeography Biological and medical sciences Canis lupus Capreolus capreolus Cervus Deer Forest cover Forest ecology Forestry Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects General forest ecology Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology Lynx Lynx lynx Population density Predators Productivity red deer roe deer Synecology top-down control Ungulates vegetation productivity winter harshness wolf Wolves Europe Forests vegetation productivity Biogeography Lynx lynx winter harshness Capreolus capreolus forest cover top-down control Cervus elaphus Ungulata Productivity Fissipedia Carnivora roe deer lynx wolf Ecology red deer Vertebrata Mammalia Top down control Vegetation Environment Population dynamics Artiodactyla Predation Canis lupus Population density
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Summary:	Aim: We aimed to describe the large-scale patterns in population density of roe deer Caprelous capreolus in Europe and to determine the factors shaping variation in their abundance. Location: Europe. Methods: We collated data on roe deer population density from 72 localities spanning 25° latitude and 48° longitude and analysed them in relation to a range of environmental factors: vegetation productivity (approximated by the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation) and forest cover as proxies for food supply, winter severity, summer drought and presence or absence of large predators (wolf, Canis lupus, and Eurasian lynx, Lynx lynx), hunter harvest and a competitor (red deer, Cervus elaphus). Results: Roe deer abundance increased with the overall productivity of vegetation cover and with lower forest cover (sparser forest cover means that a higher proportion of overall plant productivity is allocated to ground vegetation and thus is available to roe deer). The effect of large predators was relatively weak in highly productive environments and in regions with mild climate, but increased markedly in regions with low vegetation productivity and harsh winters. Other potentially limiting factors (fcunting, summer drought and competition with red deer) had no significant impact on roe deer abundance. Main conclusions: The analyses revealed the combined effect of bottom-up and top-down control on roe deer: on a biogeographical scale, population abundance of roe deer has been shaped by food-related factors and large predators, with additive effects of the two species of predators. The results have implications for management of roe deer populations in Europe. First, an increase in roe deer abundance can be expected as environmental productivity increases due to climate change. Secondly, recovery plans for large carnivores should take environmental productivity and winter severity into account when predicting their impact on prey.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-VWNDM6G0-H ArticleID:GEB480 istex:91F7A2BCFEDA46D08CEFF27566AD07D517CE2520 Present address: Department of Agrobiology and Protection of Environment, Faculty of Biology, Rzeszów University, Ćwiklińskiej Str. 2, 35‐601 Rzeszów, Poland. Present address: Centre for Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology, Realfagbygget, NO‐7491 Trondheim, Norway. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1466-822X 1466-8238
DOI:	10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00480.x