Zsolt Bíró, László Szemethy, Krisztián Katona, Miklós Heltai, Zoltán Petö
Seasonal distribution of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in a forest-agriculture habitat in Hungary / Distribution saisonničre du cerf élaphe (Cervus elaphus) dans un habitat agro-forestier en Hongrie
Habitat use by red deer (Cervus elaphus L. 1758) in forest and grassland habitats is relatively well known; however, few studies have been carried out in forest-agriculture habitats. We conducted seasonal track and bed site counts to estimate annual changes in red deer density and describe annual habitat in a Hungarian lowland area between 1995 and 2000. We found that the entire red deer population grouped into the forest in winter, while its presence during the vegetation growth period (mainly in summer) increased in agricultural areas, when track and bed site density between these two areas were equal. Our results do not support the notion that forests are abandoned in summer for agricultural food resources of better quality. Likewise, water resource locations had no significant influence on the population distribution. We conclude that increasing population density could lead to an expansion of the area occupied by the population during the vegetation growth period, i.e., when agricultural areas can provide suitable conditions for red deer.
Mammalia, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 0025-1461
Volume: 70, 02/2006
Pages: 70 - 75
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