Urbanization throughout much of Texas has resulted in diminished wildlife habitat, resulting from fragmented landscapes. Several previous studies addressed the public’s attitudes concerning the most acceptable white-tailed deer management techniques in urban areas. As a departure from these studies on urban residents’ acceptance of alternative urban deer management strategies, this study assessed the types of information required by urban residents to more fully understand the best management practices for urban deer herds. Two Texas communities, Lakeway and Hollywood Park, were chosen for this study. Since the 1990s, urban deer herds have negatively impacted these communities through increased deer-vehicle collisions, defined browse lines throughout the community, and human-deer encounters. The current number of households in each community was determined and used to calculate the household sample size in Lakeway (N= 4,090, n = 704) and Hollywood Park (N= 1,547, n = 616). An Internet survey was developed which asked an adult resident of each selected household about his or her knowledge of factors that lead to population growth in urban white-tailed deer populations, personal encounters with an urban deer herd in the community, the types of management options he or she would choose in dealing with the urban deer herd, and why and what types of information the respondent would most like to have regarding urban deer management. Finally, demographic information was asked such as age, gender, level of education and years of residency in the neighborhood. The information derived from this study reveals the public’s knowledge, attitudes, actions, and expectations concerning over-abundant white-tailed deer populations in Lakeway and Hollywood Park, Texas. This information can be used to assist communities such as Lakeway and Hollywood Park, as well as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, to develop appropriate educational materials that will provide relevant, current, and accurate information about urban deer population ecology and management for the urban resident. The methods of this study will serve as a useful tool for others to develop pro-active management strategies for controlling over-abundant urban white-tailed deer populations and aid in reducing the conflict between urban deer managers and the public.

New Caledonia, an archipelago situated in the South-West Pacific Ocean has a very high biodiversity of which many flora and fauna species are endemic, and is therefore considered as one of the world hotspots for the biodiversity conservation. Sclerophyll forests, one of the five main vegetation types occurring on the island are mainly threatened by anthropogenic activities. Rusa deer (Cervus timorensis russa) were introduced into New Caledonia from Java in 1870. They have colonised all the biotopes of the main island, and represent one of the major threats to the New Caledonian sclerophyll forests. Currently, there is a lack of management tools to monitor the trends of rusa deer in New Caledonian sclerophyll forests. To test monitoring methods for use as management tools, six sclerophyll forests study sites were studied using direct census methods (i.e. spotlight count and drive count), indirect census methods (i.e. faecal standing crop method) and three indices (i.e. the faecal pellet groups index, the browsing index and the antler rubbing index). The faecal pellet groups index is based on sampling pellet groups in plots along transects. To ensure reliable data collection with a coefficient of variation of the mean number of intact faecal pellet groups per plot per transect of less than 20 percent, my study indicated that 15 plots per transect and 20 transects per sites should be sampled in New Caledonian sclerophyll forests whereas previous studies conducted in New Zealand indicated that a minimum of 25 plots per transect and of 18 transects per site should be sampled. The advantages of reducing the number of plots per transect and of transects per site is that it reduces the expenses (e.g. time, finance) and the bias due to data collection (e.g. fatigue, boredom and visual activity) which will improve the precision of the data recorded. Estimates of rusa deer density obtained from the census methods were not correlated (r = - 0.425, df = 4, P = 0.401) due to my small sample size. The reliability of these estimates is questionable because of biases. Previous publications have shown that biases are difficult to avoid when using direct census methods and that it is difficult to estimate the size of animal populations with accuracy and precision. The faecal standing crop method was subjected to bias because the estimation of the decay rate and the defecation rate were unreliable. These methods were not recommended for rusa deer management in New Caledonian sclerophyll forests. Of the three indices tested, the faecal pellet groups index and the browsing index based on unpalatable browse species were the most reliable as the confidence intervals of these two indices were small (i.e. from ±0.08 to ±0.11 for the faecal pellet groups index; from ±0.04 to ±0.27 for the browsing index of unpalatable browse species), and they also showed significant correlations with a subjective ranking of the rusa deer density based on expert knowledge (rs = 0.829, df = 4, P = 0.042 and rs = 0.829, df = 4, P = 0.042 respectively). These two indices appear to show the most promise for use as management tools, as they could reliably track local variations of rusa deer densities on the sclerophyll forests. These two indices could be used by wildlife technicians in New Caledonia to establish management plans of rusa deer populations which rely on participative management involving the stakeholders (e.g. hunters, forest managers, local communities). We believe that the faecal pellet groups index and the browsing index could be useful to monitor rusa deer populations in New Caledonian sclerophyll forests, and meet conservation and hunting objectives of the local population and authorities. Management tools such as culling and hunting operations will be implemented in New Caledonian sclerophyll forests where monitoring of indices I recommended show an increase in the deer population. Stakeholders will be involved in the implementation of the monitoring tools (i.e. indices) and of the management tools (e.g. culling and hunting operations, fencing) but also in decision making for the management of the rusa deer in New Caledonian sclerophyll forests.

No description available.

Red deer (Cervus elaphus) is a frequent subject of human interest. It can be managed in the wild, can be intensively bred in game preserves, can be the subject of game farming or bred as a pet, subspecies of red deer occur in the zoos. In the management of deer in the wild can not fully eliminate all negative impacts on the welfare, management of deer in the game preserves should follow optimal breeding conditions completely. The aim of this work was to evaluate the extent to which the red deer management in the Czech Republic is to ensure welfare. There is a list of analysis of reports of the red deer management, statements of the environmental analysis of the red deer and livestock conditions in selected game preserves.

6 Abstract The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is a widespread species of so-called grazers in Central Europe, which significantly affects the functioning of forest ecosystems. While in most areas of red deer distribution, its stocks are regulated within hunting and forestry management, within the Šumava National Park there is the largest non-intervention area with hunting restrictions in Central Europe outside the Alpine region. The Šumava NP is also dynamic environment. There is a change in habitat conditions started mainly by windstorm Kyrill and subsequent bark beetle gradation. There has also been a change in terms of habitat management (new zoning, different forest management practices). The thesis contains an extensive dataset of a total of 34 doe monitored by GPS telemetry collars, from two time horizons. A spatiotemporal analysis of the preferences of land cover, altitude, slope and orientation of slopes and distance to anthropogenic structures is performed. The results of this analysis reaffirm that the behaviour of deer in the daily and annual cycle is controlled mainly by food requirements and also showed the effect of anthropogenic disturbance, which significantly modifies the pattern of land use due to the distance from the source of disturbance. The current occurrence is still controlled by...

Roads pose two central problems for wildlife: wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) and habitat fragmentation. Wildlife exclusion fencing can reduce WVCs but can exacerbate fragmentation. In Chapter 1, I summarize the relevant studies addressing these two problems, with a focus on large mammals in North America. Chapters 2 and 3 summarize field assessments of technologies to reduce WVCs and maintain connectivity, specifically jumpout ramps and underpasses, along Highway 101 near San Luis Obispo, CA. In a fenced highway, some animals inevitably breach the fence and become trapped, which increases the risk of a wildlife-vehicle collision. Earthen escape ramps, or “jumpouts”, can allow the trapped animal to escape the highway corridor. Few studies have quantified wildlife use of jumpouts, and none for >2 years. We used wildlife cameras to quantify wildlife use of 4 jumpouts from 2012-2017. Mule deer were 88% percent of our detections and jumped out 20% of the time. After accounting for pseudoreplication, 33% of the events were independent events, and 2 groups of deer accounted for 41% of all detections at the top of the jumpout. Female deer were 86% of the detections and were much more likely than males to return to the jumpout multiple times. This is the first study to document use of jumpouts for more than 3 years, the first to account for pseudoreplication, and the first to quantify differences in jumpout use between male and female mule deer. We recommend a jumpout height between 1.75m-2m for mule deer to increase the jumpout success rate. Chapter 3 addresses factors that may affect the use of undercrossings by mule deer and other wildlife. Wildlife crossings combined with wildlife exclusion fencing have been shown to be the most effective method to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions while maintaining ecological connectivity. Although several studies have quantified wildlife use of undercrossings, very few have exceeded 24 months, and the factors affecting carnivores use of the undercrossings remain unclear. We quantified mule deer, black bear, mountain lion, and bobcat use of 11 undercrossings along Highway 101 near San Luis Obispo, California from 2012-2017. We constructed zero-inflated Poisson general linear models on the monthly activity of our focal species using underpass dimensionality, distance to cover, substrate, human activity, and location relative to the wildlife exclusion fence as predictor variables. We accounted for temporal variation, as well as spatial variation by quantifying the landscape resistance near each undercrossing. We found that deer almost exclusively used the larger underpasses whereas the carnivores were considerably less selective. Bears used undercrossings more that were within the wildlife exclusion fence, whereas mountain lion activity was higher outside the wildlife exclusion fence. Bobcat activity was highest and most widespread, and was negatively associated with distance to cover. Regional connectivity is most important for bear and mountain lion, and the surrounding habitat may be the most important predictor for their use of undercrossings. We recommend placing GPS collars on our focal species to more clearly document fine-scale habitat selection near the highway.

A questionnaire was sent to 1,506 randomly selected agricultural producers and homeowners in Virginia during 1996 to determine perceptions about deer damage and management during 1995 (response rate 52%). Overall, 58% of respondents experienced damage by deer to their plantings during 1995. Producers (71%) were more likely to experience deer damage than homeowners (37%) Among farmers, producers of soybeans, tree fruits, and peanuts were most likely to experience damage and generally rated it as being more severe than that reported by others. Regardless of perceptions regarding damage, most (70%) individuals believed that Virginia's deer population should be reduced to some degree in the future. Respondents' perceptions regarding the level of damage influenced their opinion about the level to which deer populations should be reduced; those perceiving greater damage were increasingly likely to desire a dramatic decrease in Virginia's deer population. Similarly, perception about the level of damage affected a respondent's general opinion about deer; respondents who experienced severe damage also were more likely to believe that deer are a nuisance. Overall, a majority (84%) of respondents favored recreational hunting as a means to manage deer in Virginia. A respondent's gender and the situation in which they were raised (e.g., urban, rural, farm) were strongly related to preference for management options. Female respondents and those raised in more urban areas were more likely to favor "non-lethal" management options (i.e., contraception, trapping and relocating individuals, allowing nature to take its course, fencing, and repellents) than were male respondents and those raised in rural environments. Deer density in a respondent's county of residence was directly related to perception regarding deer damage and desire for future population management (e.g., reduction versus increase). A pilot study was conducted to assess the impacts of refugia on traditional deer management efforts via recreational hunting during 1996. Two study areas in Virginia were selected and, using information supplied by the county tax office, questionnaires were sent to individuals who owned land in the respective areas to determine distribution of land-uses, extent and severity of deer damage, and role of recreational hunting within each site. Deer damage was strongly related to land-use; respondents who owned lands on which some agricultural activity occurred were more likely to experience damage than respondents who owned non-agricultural lands. Respondents in each study area harvested more deer from their land than the mean harvest rate for the county in which they resided. Thus, it appears that, in some situations, deer harvest did not reduce damage to an acceptable level. The presence of local refugia theoretically had the potential to contribute to this relationship, but more research is needed to make definitive conclusions. / Master of Science

The aim of the project was to explore the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge amongst decision-makers involved in the management of red deer in Scotland. While research exists on the ecology of red deer habitat, no research exists that focuses on the relationship between the deer and the people responsible for their management. Therefore, this thesis is primarily qualitative research which aimed to explore the various aspects of red deer management in Scotland within the socio-ecological context in which it exists. There are numerous groups with interest in red deer management, however this research, due to scope and time restrictions, was limited to two primary groups, the individuals tasked with implementing policy and the practitioners who carry out culling. During the course of the project, under-researched topics surfaced, highlighting areas of practical and theoretical divergence between stakeholders. This thesis therefore aims to explore how differing views and perspectives of two of the key stakeholder groups – the estate-based practitioners (including stalkers, land-managers, and land-owners) and staff of governmental agencies – influence the management of red deer in Scotland. This research indicates that people with different roles hold different relationships with the deer, which affect management decisions and implementation at local, regional, and/or national level. As with other areas within conservation and wildlife management, this research indicates there is a disconnect between blanket governmental policy and site-specific needs, with a lack of inclusion of practitioner knowledge. Potential future research would include additional qualitative research to follow up some of the management issues raised by this research and formulate recommendations for changes to practice, followed by collection of quantitative data assessing the efficacy of interventions.

No description available.

A study was conducted to determine what impact high white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) densities were having on the native grasslands of a tallgrass: aspen forest tract embedded within an agro-urban setting. Due to excessive spring moisture, row-crops were unavailable the first year. Using microhistological fecal analysis to determine dietary composition, deer were assessed to be placing the site’s favoured native plant species at risk of extirpation. Measuring woody stem abundance and height along and near the prairie: forest ecotone, deer were found to restructure woody growth but not directly influence encroachment rates. Indirectly, however, deer facilitated forest encroachment and prairie degradation through seed dispersal, nitrogen deposition, gap-dynamics, and trampling. Comparing dietary composition to nutritional data, deer grazed to maximize fitness, selecting foods high in IVDMD, minimizing energy expenditure, and optimizing CP. High crop CP was offset by intensively grazing particular native plants. ADF was an effective nutritional marker, not AIA.