Urban development and habitat fragmentation threaten recovery and
management of the endangered Florida Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium).
Urban development has reduced deer dispersal from their core habitat resulting in deer
“overabundance” and has increased deer-human interactions (mostly deer-vehicle
collisions [DVCs]). Conversely, deer populations on outer islands have declined in
recent years due to limited deer dispersal from source populations. In order to expand
the Key deer’s range and reduce DVCs within their core habitat, wildlife managers
determined translocations and DVC mitigation were needed. Thus, the objectives of my
thesis were to determine (1) effects of translocation on the establishment of outer-island
local populations, and (2) effects of United States 1 Highway (US 1) improvements (i.e.,
exclusion fencing, underpasses, deer guards, and extra lane creation) on DVCs and deer
movements.
I evaluated the efficacy of translocations by comparing annual survival and
seasonal ranges between resident and translocated deer and by analyzing reproduction of
translocated deer. Translocated females (yearlings and adults) had lower annual survival
than resident deer. Conversely, males (yearlings and adults) demonstrated higher annual survival than resident males. Due to low sample sizes and large variation, these numbers
are potentially less important than the high overall survival (only 4 of 38 died). Seasonal
ranges were generally smaller for resident deer than translocated deer. I attribute
differences in ranges to differences in habitat quality between the core habitat and
destination islands and to use of soft releases. Presence of fawns and yearlings indicated
successful reproduction of translocated deer. Overall, the project was successful in
establishing populations on the destination islands.
The US 1 Highway improvements reduced DVCs along the fenced section of US
1 (2003, n = 2; 2004, n = 1; 2005, n = 0); however, overall DVCs increased on Big Pine
Key (1996–2000, x¯ = 79; 2003, n = 91; 2004, n = 84; 2005, n = 100). Data suggest
DVCs shifted to the unfenced segment of US 1. However, monthly deer surveys also
suggested an increase in deer numbers that may explain overall DVC increases observed
in my study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1878 |
| Date | 02 June 2009 |
| Creators | Parker, Israel David |
| Contributors | Lopez, Roel R. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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