SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS OF AN INTRODUCED ROE DEER POPULATION ON A MEDITERRANEAN PENINSULA

Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) native to a deciduous forest of Western France were equipped with coloured or radio-transmitter collars, then released on a 266-hectare Mediterranean peninsula, on the edge of the current range of the species. Most of the roe settled on the area the y first experienced on the peninsula. This fast spatial attachment and the interactions between animals led to a spatial organisation of the population roughly similar to that usually described for European roe deer in deciduous forest. Despite the presence of a strip of Atlantic type vegetation on the peninsula boundary, the animals mainly establi shed their home ranges in Mediterranean habitats.