The influence of habitat alteration is widespread, but the impact of climate cannot continue to be discounted

• Published in: Global change biology Vol. 30; no. 9; pp. e17497 - n/a
• Main Authors: Dickie, Melanie, Serrouya, Robert, Becker, Marcus, DeMars, Craig, Noonan, Michael J., Steenweg, Robin, Boutin, Stan, Ford, Adam T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-09-2024
• Subjects: Animals; camera traps; Climate; Climate Change; Climate effects; Climate prediction; Conservation of Natural Resources; data transformation; Deer - physiology; Ecosystem; effect size; Habitats; land‐use; model inference; Population Density; model inference; data transformation; land‐use; effect size; camera traps; climate change
• ISSN: 1354-1013; 1365-2486; 1365-2486
• DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17497

In Dickie et al. (2024), we contrasted the effects of climate and habitat alteration on white‐tailed deer density, recognizing the role of both these factors. Barnas et al.'s (2024) critique raised concerns about data transformations, model overfitting, and inference methods, but our analysis demonstrates that these criticisms are either unfounded or align with our original conclusions. We reaffirm that while both climate and habitat alteration contribute to deer densities, management decisions cannot ignore the strong role of climate, which is only predicted to increase in coming decades.