DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9ghx3ffw5
title: Data from: Navigating a landscape of contrasting hunting regimes and habitats: Red deer responses to risk and resources

description: Habitat selection of ungulates is influenced by various factors, with
 human interactions playing a significant role. Human disturbances through
 hunting strongly affect ungulate behaviour, often forcing them to modify
 their habitat choices by avoiding areas where the risk from humans
 outweighs other habitat benefits. Gaining insights into these dynamics of
 human-wildlife interactions is essential for reducing conflicts between
 hunting objectives and wildlife conservation efforts. Here, we used GPS
 tracking data of 32 female red deer (Cervus elaphus) to derive resource
 selection functions, analysing habitat selection of animals with both
 hunting and no-hunting zones within their home range in Berchtesgaden
 National Park, Germany. Red deer habitat selection differed distinctly
 between hunting and no-hunting zones. In the hunting zone, red deer more
 strongly selected closed forests, indicating a priority for safety. This
 pattern was particularly strong during daylight hours (i.e., the primary
 time of hunting) during which they also greatly reduced their movement.
 During night-time, when hunting risk was absent, red deer strongly
 selected open habitats and increased their movement rate. Conversely, red
 deer consistently selected open habitats and had similar movement rates
 during both day and night in the no-hunting zone, reflecting a preference
 for foraging grounds when not influenced by hunting. Our results highlight
 red deer’s ability to distinguish between and adapt to areas of varying
 risk within their home range. These insights are critical for targeted
 wildlife management and conservation. On the one hand, they demonstrated
 that hunting can be strategically used as a management tool to control red
 deer habitat use, reducing their presence and thus potentially their
 impact on specific areas. On the other hand, the finding that hunting
 distinctly influences red deer habitat selection and movement highlights
 the value of no-hunting zones for the conservation of natural behaviour of
 ungulate populations.
description: # Data from: Navigating a landscape of contrasting hunting regimes and
 habitats: Red deer responses to risk and resources Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.9ghx3ffw5](10.5061/dryad.9ghx3ffw5) ## Description of the
 data and file structure This repository contains the data file
 red_deer_data.csv which has been used to build the resource selection
 functions presented in the article “Navigating a Landscape of Contrasting
 Hunting Regimes and Habitats: Red Deer Responses to Risk and Resources”.
 The csv file contains the values of the predictor variables for used GPS
 points as well as for the randomly generated available points. The ratio
 of used to available points is 1:5. Given that the data were collected in
 a National Park where minimal disturbance to wildlife is a priority, the
 file does not contain precise GPS locations to avoid potential misuse for
 animal tracking. ### Files and variables #### File: red_deer_data.csv
 **Description:**  ##### Variables * CollarID: ID of each animal * group:
 name of one of the two subgroups each animal belongs to * datetime:
 timestamp * sun: time converted into radian based on date and time of
 sunrise * pres: used (1) and available (0) points * canopy: habitat
 classification (open, intermediate, closed, several NA values correspond
 to pixels situated on small water surfaces or buildings) * dem: elevation
 (rescaled to a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1) * slope: slope
 (rescaled to a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1) * zone: hunting
 regime (no-hunting, hunting) * weight: values used for infinite weighting
 of available points (used points have value 1, available points value
 1500) ## Code/software All analyses were done in R 4.3.2