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Competitor densities, habitat, and weather: effects on interspecific interactions between wild deer species
Integrative Zoology ( IF 3.3 ) Pub Date : 2020-07-12 , DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12470
Francesco Ferretti 1 , Niccolò Fattorini 1
Affiliation  

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, over the considered temporal scale, results supported a major role of competition over weather in influencing population trends of roe deer. At a finer spatial scale, roe deer occupancy was negatively affected by local abundance of fallow deer, especially in “poorer” habitats. We found a slight support for a positive effect of fallow deer density on interspecific spatial overlap. Moreover, fine-scale spatial overlap between deer species increased with decreasing rainfall in spring–summer. Fallow deer were introduced to our study area in historical times and their role as superior competitors over roe deer has been found also in other study areas. We suggest a potential role of harsh weather conditions during the growing season of vegetation (i.e. scarce rainfall) in triggering the potential for ecological overlap, emphasizing the negative effects of interspecific competition.

中文翻译:

竞争者密度、栖息地和天气:对野生鹿种间种间相互作用的影响

人们对天气、栖息地和种间竞争对野生食草动物种群动态的潜在相互作用越来越感兴趣。有利的环境条件可以缓冲竞争的负面影响;相反,在恶劣的环境条件下,竞争可能会更加激烈。我们调查了竞争对手丰度、天气和栖息地覆盖率与中型草食动物狍狍 Capreolus capreolus 的密度和局部分布之间的关系,以及它与休耕鹿Dama dama 的空间重叠在地中海保护区。11年间(2007-2017年),狍密度不受上年春夏降雨的影响,随着上年休耕鹿密度的增加而下降。因此,在考虑的时间尺度上,结果支持天气竞争在影响狍种群趋势方面的主要作用。在更精细的空间尺度上,狍的栖息地受到当地休耕鹿数量的负面影响,尤其是在“贫困”的栖息地。我们发现了对休闲鹿密度对种间空间重叠的积极影响的轻微支持。此外,随着春夏季降雨量的减少,鹿种之间的精细空间重叠增加。在历史时期,小鹿被引入我们的研究区域,并且在其他研究区域也发现了它们作为狍子的优势竞争对手的作用。我们建议在植被生长季节(即降雨稀少)期间恶劣的天气条件在触发生态重叠的可能性方面的潜在作用,强调了种间竞争的负面影响。
更新日期:2020-07-12
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