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Individual access to preferred habitat affects fitness components in female roe deer Capreolus capreolus

  1. Erlend B. Nilsen1,*,
  2. John D. C. Linnell2,
  3. Reidar Andersen1

Article first published online: 6 JAN 2004

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2004.00790.x

Issue

Journal of Animal Ecology

Journal of Animal Ecology

Volume 73, Issue 1, pages 44–50, January 2004

Additional Information

How to Cite

Nilsen, E. B., Linnell, J. D. C. and Andersen, R. (2004), Individual access to preferred habitat affects fitness components in female roe deer Capreolus capreolus. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73: 44–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2004.00790.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway, and

  2. 2

    Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Tungesletta 2, N-7485 Trondheim, Norway

* Erlend B. Nilsen, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway. E-mail: erlend.nilsen@bio.ntnu.no

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 6 JAN 2004
  2. Article first published online: 6 JAN 2004
  3. Received 11 November 2002; accepted 9 June 2003

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Keywords:

  • fawn winter weight;
  • habitat quality;
  • ideal free distribution;
  • litter size;
  • ungulates

Summary

  • 1
    Many studies have reported variation in life-history traits and reproductive success within populations. One potential source for the reported variation is fine-scale spatial variation in habitat quality.
  • 2
    In this study the effects of differences in home-range quality on individual fitness were investigated in a roe deer population in an agricultural–woodland mosaic landscape in central Norway.
  • 3
    Compositional analysis revealed that woodland was the most preferred habitat: its availability was therefore used as an index of home-range quality.
  • 4
    It was found that the quality of the does’ winter home-range affected fawn production in the subsequent spring, as females with greatest availability of preferred habitat during winter produced the larger litters the subsequent spring.
  • 5
    Furthermore, the winter weights of the fawns seemed to be affected by home-range quality in a complex way. First, home-range quality in the prenatal winter seems to influence the birthdate and in turn the weight of the fawns in August. Also there was an immediate effect of the quality of the home-range that the fawns occupied during the postnatal winter.
  • 6
    These results are not consistent with the ideal free distribution theory, suggesting that the mechanisms for roe deer spacing behaviour should be re-examined.
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