Estimating White-tailed Deer Populations at the Wilds

Ryan BurkeApril 21, 2014

Biology Department

Deer population through

time 2008

What Changed? Habitat

Absence of predators

Hunting regulations

Protected areas

Significance Habitat

› Anderson 1997; › Fowler et. al., 2007

Agriculture› Rooney et al., 2010

Songbirds and small mammals› Ballard et. al., 2003; McShea & Rappole 1999› Bynam 2011

Disease› Bolzoni et. al., 2012; Duffy et. al., 2002

Objectives Determine if deer population is above

~ 25 individuals per square kilometer

Determine if areas at the Wilds have higher densities than other areas

Determine if there are more bucks than does or vice versa, or if both sexes are represented equally

The Wilds

Transects

Methods Data collected along 5 transects

Transect surveyed once a week

Program Distance

Results

Overall results Avg. of 40.5 deer

Avg. 35.1 does

Avg. 5.4 bucks

Total number of deer observed on transect 2

Sampling session

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tota

l num

ber o

f dee

r obs

erve

d

0

2

4

6

8

10

Total number of deer observed on transect 4

Sampling Session

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tota

l num

ber o

f dee

r obs

erve

d

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

Linear Regression

P=0.07

R2=0.39

Positive association

Linear Regression

P=0.09

R2=0.35

Positive association

Linear regression

P=0.06

R2=0.41

Positive association

Year of Study

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Deer per km

2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Previous research results

Conclusion Deer density= 49.012 deer/km2

Greater than 25

Impact› Habitat

› Disease

On going study

Special Thanks Dr. Danny Ingold

Dr. Jim Dooley

Dan Beetem

The Wilds

Josh Goedel

Questions?