Dataset Information

The effect of livestock on the physiological condition of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is modulated by habitat quality.

ABSTRACT: Free-range livestock grazing is a widespread human activity that not only modifies natural vegetation but also leads to interactions with wild ungulates. Most commonly, the interactions between cattle and wild ungulates have been studied with a focus on competition for high-quality forage. However, other mechanisms, such as the risk of parasite infection, might better describe this interaction. We aim to determine whether livestock affect roe deer (Capreolus capreolus Linnaeus, 1758) by reducing habitat quality and increasing the probability of infection by shared parasites. We measured noninvasive fecal cortisol metabolites as an indicator of habitat quality as well as the lung nematode larvae burden from the Dictyocaulus genus. A higher Dictyocaulus larvae load was found in the presence of livestock in pines, and feces collected in winter had a higher parasite load than feces collected in autumn. Additionally, fecal cortisol metabolite levels in the roe deer were affected by the interaction between habitat quality and livestock presence and were higher in the poorest habitat and when living in sympatry with cattle. Our results suggest that physiological stress responses in roe deer were mediated by the habitat type and the presence of competitors. The long-term implications of altered physiological responses such as those demonstrated here should be considered in management strategies for deer.

SUBMITTER: Horcajada-Sanchez F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6828671 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The effect of livestock on the physiological condition of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is modulated by habitat quality.

Horcajada-Sánchez Fernando F Escribano-Ávila Gema G Lara-Romero Carlos C Virgós Emilio E Barja Isabel I

Scientific reports 20191104 1

Free-range livestock grazing is a widespread human activity that not only modifies natural vegetation but also leads to interactions with wild ungulates. Most commonly, the interactions between cattle and wild ungulates have been studied with a focus on competition for high-quality forage. However, other mechanisms, such as the risk of parasite infection, might better describe this interaction. We aim to determine whether livestock affect roe deer (Capreolus capreolus Linnaeus, 1758) by reducing ...[more]

PMID: 31685886

Similar Datasets

Project description:Background. Understanding species distribution, especially areas of overlapping habitat between sympatric species, is essential for informing conservation through natural habitat protection. New protection strategies should simultaneously consider conservation efforts for multiple species that exist within the same landscape, which requires studies that include habitat overlap analysis. Methods. We estimated the potential habitat of cervids, which are typical ungulates in northern China, using the present locations of red deer (Cervus elaphus; N = 90) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus; N = 106) in a Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. Our study area was a human-dominated landscape in the Tieli Forestry Bureau located at the southern slope of the Lesser Xing'an Mountains. We grouped 17 environmental predictor variables into five predictor classes (terrain, habitat accessibility, land cover, vegetation feature, and interference), which were used to build habitat suitability models. Results. Habitat accessibility and human interferences were found to have the strongest influence on habitat suitability among the five variable classes. Among the environmental factors, distance to farmland (26.8%), distance to bush-grass land (14.6%), elevation (13.5%), and distance to water source (12.2%) were most important for red deer, distance to farmland (22.9%), distance to settlement (21.4%), elevation (11.6%), and coverage of shrub-grass (8%) were most important for roe deer. Model accuracy was high for both species (mean area under the curve (AUC) = 0.936 for red deer and 0.924 for roe deer). The overlapping habitat comprised 89.93 km(2) within the study area, which occupied 94% of potentially suitable habitat for red deer and 27% for roe deer. Conclusions. In terms of habitat suitability, roe deer showed greater selectivity than red deer. The overlapping habitat was mostly located in the eastern mountains. The southwestern plain was not a suitable habitat for deer because it was close to Tieli City. Regarding management measures, we suggest that priority protection should be given to the potential areas of overlapping deer habitats found in this study.

Dataset Information

The effect of livestock on the physiological condition of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is modulated by habitat quality.

Publications

The effect of livestock on the physiological condition of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is modulated by habitat quality.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets