IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/beheco/v26y2015i2p550-559..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Competition between wild herbivores: reintroduced red deer and Apennine chamois

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Ferretti
  • Marcello Corazza
  • Ilaria Campana
  • Venusta Pietrocini
  • Claudia Brunetti
  • Davide Scornavacca
  • Sandro Lovari

Abstract

Coevolved species should avoid competition through resource partitioning, but human-induced alteration of plant/animal communities may facilitate the onset of competitive interactions. In herbivores, access to high-quality forage in the warm months, that is, during nursing and weaning, influences growth and survival of offspring. In turn, resource exploitation by a reintroduced, superior competitor should affect offspring survival of the inferior one, by decreasing foraging efficiency and diet quality of mothers and young. We assessed the negative effects of reintroduced red deer Cervus elaphus on grassland, on foraging behavior of female Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata (July–October 2012–2013) and on winter survival of chamois kids, across 3 study sites with different deer densities (great/intermediate/extremely low). The size of bare soil patches was positively associated with deer density and, in areas with deer, it increased throughout July–October. The volume of nutritious plants (i.e., legumes) in the diet of female chamois was lower and decreased faster between summer and autumn, in areas with deer than in that with an extremely low deer density. Feeding intensity (bite rate) of female chamois was significantly lower and their food searching (step rate) was greater in areas with deer. Chamois kids showed a significantly greater winter mortality, with a lower proportion of younger individuals, in areas with deer than in that with an extremely low deer density. In human-altered ecosystems, unpredictable consequences can follow interspecific interactions within restored animal communities. In turn, patterns of ecological relationships among ecosystem components may be modified, with an increase of the potential for competitive interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Ferretti & Marcello Corazza & Ilaria Campana & Venusta Pietrocini & Claudia Brunetti & Davide Scornavacca & Sandro Lovari, 2015. "Competition between wild herbivores: reintroduced red deer and Apennine chamois," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(2), pages 550-559.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:550-559.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/aru226
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simone Pesaresi & Diana Galdenzi & Edoardo Biondi & Simona Casavecchia, 2014. "Bioclimate of Italy: application of the worldwide bioclimatic classification system," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 538-553, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Péron, Guillaume, 2024. "Movement-based coexistence does not always require a functional trade-off," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 487(C).
    2. Sandro Lovari & Sara Franceschi & Gianpasquale Chiatante & Lorenzo Fattorini & Niccolò Fattorini & Francesco Ferretti, 2020. "Climatic changes and the fate of mountain herbivores," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 2319-2337, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pietro Salvaneschi & Antonio Pica & Ciro Apollonio & Teodoro Andrisano & Massimo Pecci & Andrea Petroselli & Bartolomeo Schirone, 2024. "Assessing the Efficiency of Two Silvicultural Approaches for Soil Erosion Mitigation Using a Novel Monitoring Apparatus," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface & Carmelo Maria Musarella & Agostino Sorgonà & Giovanni Spampinato, 2022. "Analysis of the Population Structure and Dynamic of Endemic Salvia ceratophylloides Ard. (Lamiaceae)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Maria Carla de Francesco & Francesco Pio Tozzi & Gabriella Buffa & Edy Fantinato & Michele Innangi & Angela Stanisci, 2022. "Identifying Critical Thresholds in the Impacts of Invasive Alien Plants and Dune Paths on Native Coastal Dune Vegetation," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Giulia Caneva & Simone Langone & Flavia Bartoli & Adele Cecchini & Carlo Meneghini, 2021. "Vegetation Cover and Tumuli’s Shape as Affecting Factors of Microclimate and Biodeterioration Risk for the Conservation of Etruscan Tombs (Tarquinia, Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    5. Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface & Carmelo Maria Musarella & Gianmarco Tavilla & Agostino Sorgonà & Ana Cano-Ortiz & Ricardo Quinto Canas & Giovanni Spampinato, 2023. "Current and Potential Future Distribution of Endemic Salvia ceratophylloides Ard. (Lamiaceae)," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Maria Luisa Lopez Fernandez & Dauren Zhumabayev & Ricardo Marco Garcia & Kanat Baigarin & Maria Soledad Lopez Fernandez & Saken Baisholanov, 2020. "Assessment of bioclimatic change in Kazakhstan, end 20th—middle 21st centuries, according to the PRECIS prediction," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-37, October.
    7. Bazzato, Erika & Rosati, Leonardo & Canu, Simona & Fiori, Michele & Farris, Emmanuele & Marignani, Michela, 2021. "High spatial resolution bioclimatic variables to support ecological modelling in a Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 441(C).
    8. Simone Pesaresi & Edoardo Biondi & Simona Casavecchia, 2017. "Bioclimates of Italy," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 955-960, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:550-559.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/beheco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.