Seasonal migration patterns of female sika deer in eastern Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

Fifty-seven female sika deer ( Cervus nippon yesoensis ), captured at the wintering area in the Shiranuka Hills in eastern Hokkaido, Japan, were radio-tracked during 1997-2001 to examine the factors affecting seasonal migration at the individual-landscape level. Ten of the 57 deers migrated between low-altitude summer home ranges and intermediate-altitude winter home ranges (the upward migrants). Twenty-nine migrated between high-altitude summer home ranges and intermediate-altitude winter home ranges (the downward migrants). Twelve used the intermediate-altitude home ranges all year round (the nonmigrants). The remaining six were unknown. The summer home ranges of deer were widely scattered over an area of 5734 km 2 . Migration distances ranged between 7.2 and 101.7 km. Deer showed high site fidelities to their seasonal home ranges. The upward migrants wintered in areas of less snow, higher quality of bamboo grass, and more coniferous cover than their summer home ranges. The downward migrants wintered in areas of less snow, higher quality of bamboo grass, higher winter temperature, and more southern slopes, but less coniferous cover than their summer home ranges. The non-migrants used yearround ranges with little snow, high quality of bamboo grass, and sufficient coniferous cover. We suggest that snow cover and bamboo grass are the factors affecting seasonal migration of the population and that coniferous cover is another factor for the upward migration.

Seasonal Migration of Sika Deer in the Oku-Chichibu Mountains, Central Japan

“…Although we were not able to track the deer during the second season, previous studies indicate high fidelity to summer home range of deer (e.g., Tierson et al 1985;Porter et al 1991;Igota et al 2004), which is consistent with our results.…”

“…Migratory deer rarely exhibits upward migration (Igota et al 2004;Pépin et al 2008), while downward migration is more common to avoid low temperatures and deep snow (e.g., Boyce 1991;Nelson 1995;Nicholson et al 1997;D'Eon and Serrouya 2005;Ramanzin et al 2007;Fieberg et al 2008). In our study, all the deer wintered in relatively high elevation areas (>1,200 m a.s.l.…”

“…Furthermore, two female deer migrated over a distance of 20 km (24.3 km and 31.9 km) showed the longest distance reported in Honshu. In eastern Hokkaido, deer are known to migrate a long distance (Uno and Kaji 2000 [19.9 km, range = 2.5-42.0 km, n = 22]; Igota et al 2004 [35.1 km, range = 7.2-101.7 km, n = 39]) due to heavy snow and limited distribution of coniferous forests (Igota et al 2004). In Honshu, sika deer were considered not to migrate such long distance, because of the fragmented deer habitat (Yabe and Takatsuki 2009).…”

“…Movements of sika deer have been described for several areas in Japan. In deciduous broad-leaved forests and evergreen coniferous forests of northern Japan, sika deer populations are known to exhibit migratory (Honma 1995;Izumiyama and Mochizuki 2008), sedentary (Nagata 2005), and both migratory and sedentary movements (Maruyama 1981;Takatsuki et al 2000;Uno and Kaji 2000;Igota et al 2004), whereas in evergreen broad-leaved forests of southern Japan, only sedentary movements are known (Shigematsu et al 1995).…”

“…>10 km) (Uno and Kaji 2000;Sakuragi et al 2003;Igota et al 2004). Snow and bamboo grass cover were the major factors affecting seasonal migration (Igota et al 2004). However, little is known about the seasonal migration of deer in Honshu.…”