• Corpus ID: 55499600

Spatiotemporal competition patterns of Swedish roe deer and wild boar during the fawning season

@inproceedings{Melberg2012SpatiotemporalCP,
  title={Spatiotemporal competition patterns of Swedish roe deer and wild boar during the fawning season},
  author={Staffan Melberg},
  year={2012}
}

• Staffan Melberg
• Published 13 December 2012
• Environmental Science

Abstract
This study was performed on Bogesund research area, Sweden, in order to determine whether wild boar (Sus scrofa) predates on fawns of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and if the spatial and temporal patterns of roe deer are related to wild boar activity. A behav-ioural response is beneficial for many organisms when they are exposed to interspecific competition. A spatial and temporal avoidance towards their antagonist may be essen-tial for survival in times of great competition. Little information is available about roe deer’s behavioural response to wild boars competitive abilities. I performed spatial and temporal measurements to wild boar activity from my roe deer data in order to test my predictions of a roe deer avoidance towards wild boar. Data was collected from radio-marked roe deer fawns, pellet group counts and photographs from a wildlife camera survey. I was not able to demonstrate any wild boar predation on fawns. However, fawns display a non-random movement pattern towards wild boar rootings and the dis-tance is longer to heavy wild boar activity. Roe deer adults are more present at cameras with lower wild boar presence and the both species display different diurnal activity patterns. I discuss the implications of these results in terms of roe deer fecundity and growth of populations.