- Title
- New insights into wild deer population genetics, ecology and impacts : implications for management in south eastern Australia
- Creator
- Davies, Christopher
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Text; Thesis; PhD
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/173292
- Identifier
- vital:14646
- Abstract
- This thesis is a compilation of my own work, driven by my interest into the ecology and impacts of introduced deer in Victoria. My interest in deer initially lead me to undertake an honours project, focussed on deer as a vector for parasites that can affect domestic livestock. During my honours year it became apparent that little was known about the ecology of wild deer throughout south east Australia. My PhD study was therefore developed to fill knowledge gaps of deer ecology, with a focus on developing and optimising ecological tools to generate data to improve deer management strategies. There are many methods available which can be used to collect ecological data on invasive species, such as deer. For my study, I chose methods from four quite discrete fields; global positioning systems (GPS) tracking, population genetics, camera trapping and spatial modelling. These methods were chosen as they are commonly used in ecological studies of invasive species. During my candidature significant attempts were made to deploy GPS collars onto sambar deer to investigate their movement patterns. Movement pattern data is extremely useful and can provide insights into habitat preferences, dispersal ability and other information useful for management. Significant time (around 12 months) was spent applying for ethics approval, gaining relevant approvals, permits and licenses to perform this work as well as performing collaring attempts. Unfortunately all attempts were unsuccessful and the investigation of sambar deer movement patterns had to be abandoned. This highlights the difficulties of working with cryptic deer species inhabiting difficult terrain. The other fields of research pursued (population genetics, camera trapping and spatial modelling) were more successful, the results of which are presented and discussed in this thesis. As the three methods employed in this study are taken from very different fields, a number of experts were enlisted to guide the respective data chapters. The population genetic studies (Chapters two and three) were guided by my primary supervisor Dr Fiona Hogan. I conducted all scat collections from across Victoria, including French Island and Mount Cole and performed all DNA isolations (over 300 in total). Population structure analysis for chapter three was undertaken with the assistance of Dr Faye Wedrowicz and Dr Carlo Pacioni. The camera trapping study (Chapter four) involved deploying camera traps in Baw Baw National Park, which I conducted myself. Occupancy and detectability data analysis for chapter four was performed with the assistance of Dr Hugh Davies. Spatial modelling (Chapter five) which focussed on modelling deer-vehicle collision risk across Victoria was directed by Dr Casey Visintin. Chapter’s two to five are written as independent scientific publications, therefore there is some unavoidable repetition within the thesis as a whole. Minor changes have been made to the formatting of the published papers to keep style consistent within the thesis.; Doctor of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- Copyright Christopher Davies
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Deer; Cervidae; Victoria; Population genetics,; Camera traps; Non-invasive sampling; Collision risk; Modelling
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Hogan, Fiona
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