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Maternal and individual effects in selection of bed sites and their consequences for fawn survival at different spatial scales

  • Behavioral Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

We examined the relationship between survival of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns at Trois Fontaines, Champagne-Ardennes, France, and factors related to bed-site selection (predator avoidance and thermoregulation) and maternal food resources (forage availability in the maternal home range). Previous studies have demonstrated that at small scales, the young of large herbivores select bed sites independently from their mothers, although this selection takes place within the limits of their mother’s home range. Fawn survival was influenced largely by the availability of good bed sites within the maternal home range, not by the fawn’s selection of bed sites; however, selection for thermal cover when selecting bed sites positively influenced survival of young fawns. Typical features of a good home range included close proximity to habitat edges, which is related to forage accessibility for roe deer. The availability of bed sites changed as fawns aged, probably due to an increased mobility of the fawn or a different use of the home range by the mother; sites offering high concealment and thermal protection became less available in favor of areas with higher forage accessibility. Despite the minor influence of bed-site selection on survival, roe deer fawns strongly selected their bed sites according to several environmental factors linked to predator avoidance and thermoregulation. Fawns selected for sites providing concealment, light penetration, and avoided signs of wild boar (Sus scrofa) activity. Avoidance of sites with high light penetration by young fawns positively affected their survival, confirming a negative effect on thermoregulation due to reduced thermal cover. Selection for light penetration by older fawns was less clear. We discuss these results in the context of cross-generational effects in habitat selection across multiple scales, and the potential influence of the ‘ghost of predation past’.

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Acknowledgments

B. V. M. was financially supported during this research by a research grant from the French Ministry of Research. This study has benefited from financial support by the GICC2 program and by the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS). We want to thank all professionals, and especially all volunteers, who spent their time in the field to find as many fawns as possible. The data were collected within a larger ongoing research project of the ONCFS; as a research institute of the French government they adhere to all legal regulations in France. For their constructive ideas and suggestions we want to thank all members of the GROS and the GRhAS. Finally, we thank Petter Kjellander for his valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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  1. Bram Van Moorter

    Present address: Department of Biology, NTNU, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité Mixte de Recherche no. 5558 Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Bâtiment 711, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Bram Van Moorter & Jean-Michel Gaillard

  2. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada

    Philip D. McLoughlin

  3. Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Centre National d’Etudes et de Recherches Appliquées Cervidés-Sanglier, 1 Place Exelmans, 55000, Bar-le-Duc, France

    Daniel Delorme & François Klein

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    Mark S. Boyce

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  1. Bram Van Moorter
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Correspondence to Bram Van Moorter.

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Communicated by Herwig Leirs.

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Van Moorter, B., Gaillard, JM., McLoughlin, P.D. et al. Maternal and individual effects in selection of bed sites and their consequences for fawn survival at different spatial scales. Oecologia 159, 669–678 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1245-1

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