title: High red deer density depresses body mass of roe deer fawns.
abstract: Many previous studies have pointed out that, when resources are limited, the potential for competition should be high among sympatric species that display overlaps in habitat and nutritional niches. However, reliable evidence of competition between red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) has not been yet reported for life history traits directly measuring performance such as body mass, reproduction, or survival. From long-term monitoring of deer populations in the reserve of La Petite Pierre (France), we measured the sex-specific responses of roe deer fawn body mass to changes in red deer density after accounting for possible confounding effects of date of shooting, climatic conditions, and roe deer density. As expected under the hypothesis of competition, red deer density in a given year had a marked negative influence on body mass of roe deer fawns born the same year and the following year. Fawn mass of roe deer males and females responded in similar ways to changes in red deer density. Our study provides the first evidence of a negative response of roe deer performance to high red deer density.
authors.affiliation: Unité Mixte de Recherche no 5558, Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université Lyon 1, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 696220 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saïd
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hamann
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002980:Climate; D003670:Deer / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011156:Population Density