Influence of habitat fragmentation on bundance of Mazama temama at different scales in the cloud forest

Abstract

Brocket deer inhabit two of the most threatened ecosystems in Mexico: the cloud forest and tropical evergreen forest, due to the lack of studies little is known about their current condition. However it is believed that it is threatened by various factors among them hunting, loss and fragmentation of habitat. In this paper we established a conceptual model a priori about the relationships between deer and their habitat where we included elements of microhabitat and landscape to determine how it affects the abundance and distribution of brocket deer in the mountains of the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. We selected 14 different forested sites, in each we established two transects 250 m long where the relative abundance of tracks was estimated. During April 2011 to March 2012 three sampling visit were made in each transect. In the transects we measured: forest structure, protective cover, low tree and shrub layer. For each site we considered the size and shape of the fragments and their matrix. To determine which variables influenced the abundance of tracks we used general linear regression models. 352 brocket deer tracks were recorded in 21 km of linear transects. The average relative abundance was 16.76 tracks/km. More tracks were found in sites with higher tree density 0.4 trees / m2, 60 % canopy cover, 70 % protection cover for fawns and 50 % for adults, higher linear density 0.5 ind / 25m and shrub richness of more than four species. The abundance of deer had a positive linear relationship with the density of tree coverage to protect adults and brocket deer importance value of edible trees (P < 0.001). The estimated abundance of tracks was higher than the reported in other sites. Our data suggest that the sites C2, C4 and C7 were better suited for deer use and possibly their movements to other sites attracted by some crops, but more specific studies would be necessary like radio-telemetry to test this assumption. This research indicated that brocket deer behaves like a forest specialist, as their abundance and welfare depends on food availability, habitat quality in terms of forest cover and the remoteness of settlements, which are generally the best preserved and most inaccessible fragments.