Partial migration in roe deer: migratory and resident tactics are end points of a behavioural gradient determined by ecological factors
2011
Cagnacci, Francesca | Focardi, Stefano | Heurich, Marco | Stache, Anja | Hewison, Mark | Morellet, Nicolas | Kjellander, Petter | Linnell, John D. C. | Mysterud, Atle | Neteler, Markus | Delucchi, Luca | Ossi, Federico | Urbano, Ferdinando | Fondazione Edmund Mach - Edmund Mach Foundation [Italie] (FEM) | Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - UMR 5558 (LBBE) ; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) ; Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA) | Department of Research and Documentation ; Bavarian Forest National Park | Unité de recherche Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage (CEFS) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) | Grimsö Wildlife Research Station ; Department of Ecology ; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU)-Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) | Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) | University of Oslo (UiO) | Independent | This paper was conceived and written within the collaborative EURODEER project (paper no. 001 of the EURODEER series; www.eurodeer.org). The co-authors are grateful to all members for their support for the initiative. The EURODEER spatial database is hosted by Fondazione Edmund Mach. The GPS data collection of the Fondazione Edmund Mach was supported by the Autonomous Province of Trento under grant no. 3479 to FC (BECOCERWI Behavioural Ecology of Cervids in Relation to Wildlife Infections). FC thanks the Wildlife and Forest Service of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Hunting Association of Trento Province (ACT) for support and help during captures. Financial support for GPS data collection in the Bavarian Forest was provided by the EU-programme INTERREG IV (EFRE Ziel 3) and the Bavarian Forest National Park Administration. The Swedish study was supported by grants from the private foundation of 'Marie Claire Cronstedts Minne', The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and The Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management. MH and NM would like to thank the local hunting associations, the Federation Departementale des Chasseurs de la Haute Garonne, as well as numerous co-workers and volunteers for their assistance and, in particular, B. Cargnelutti, J.M. Angibault, B. Lourtet and J. Merlet. The Norwegian data collection was funded by the Directorate for Nature Management and the county administration of Buskerud county.
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. Ungulate populations exhibiting partial migration present a unique opportunity to explore the causes of the general phenomenon of migration. The European roe deer Capreolus capreolus is particularly suited for such studies due to a wide distribution range and a high level of ecological plasticity. In this study we undertook a comparative analysis of roe deer GPS location data from a representative set of European ecosystems available within the EURODEER collaborative project. We aimed at evaluating the ecological factors affecting migration tactic (i.e. occurrence) and pattern (i.e. timing, residence time, number of migratory trips). Migration occurrence varied between and within populations and depended on winter severity and topographic variability. Spring migrations were highly synchronous, while the timing of autumn migrations varied widely between regions, individuals and sexes. Overall, roe deer were faithful to their summer ranges, especially males. In the absence of extreme and predictable winter conditions, roe deer seemed to migrate opportunistically, in response to a tradeoff between the costs of residence in spatially separated ranges and the costs of migratory movements. Animals performed numerous trips between winter and summer ranges which depended on factors influencing the costs of movement such as between-range distance, slope and habitat openness. Our results support the idea that migration encompasses a behavioural continuum, with one-trip migration and residence as its end points, while commuting and multi-trip migration with short residence times in seasonal ranges are intermediate tactics. We believe that a full understanding of the variation in tactics of temporal separation in habitat use will provide important insights on migration and the factors that influence its prevalence.
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