MSc thesis submitted by Joe Premier

MSc thesis submitted by Joe Premier

October 26, 2016

Jjoe_premeir_movement_graph_2016oe Premier submitted his M.Sc. thesis on “The Lynx Effect: Behaviour of Roe Deer in the Presence of Lynx in a European Forest Ecosystem” within the Global Change Ecology M.Sc. program. He was co-supervised by Marco Heurich from the Bavarian Forest Nationalpark. Predation risk is one of the main drivers of prey behaviour. In this study the behavioural responses of roe deer under the predation risk of lynx were investigated using a combination of spatial analysis and statistical analyses. Evidence for the hypothesis that roe deer exhibit avoidance behaviour to lynx locations both spatially and temporally could not be found, however the upper limit of avoidance behaviour was constrained to within 4 hours. It was hypothesised that the activity level of roe deer was driven by proximity to lynx, with activity levels increasing with decreasing separation distance. The activity level of roe deer was in general found not to be strongly driven by the variable distance to lynx. As hypothesised, the activity level of roe was associated with habitat, such that lower activity levels occurred in areas of highest visibility (low cover) and higher activity in lowest visibility (high cover). It was found in general that a LiDAR habitat index was the most important explanatory variable of roe deer activity level. In the specific case of the closest encounters (within 24 hours and 1Km) during the night, lynx’s most active time, activity level of roe deer was found to be elevated compared to less proximate individuals. There is also a suggestion that these roe deer move further than those more distant to lynx. The hypothesis that roe deer select habitats of lower predation risk when close to lynx was partially supported; it was found that roe deer selected lower predation risk areas when closest to lynx (within 24 hours and 1Km) during winter nights and consistently inhabited lower predation risk habitats during summer when compared to winter. Furthermore, it was shown that activity level was lower in high risk habitats as hypothesised. Under the predation risk of an ambush hunter, in this case lynx, it is suggested that roe deer adopt a “business as usual” behaviour, with energy diverted for anti-predator behaviour limited to scenarios of heightened risk. It is believed a near continuous GPS tracking schedule would be required to resolve lethal and non-lethal encounter events and illuminate avoidance behaviour and perception distance further.

follow us and share it on:

you may also like:

EORC at the Savanna Science Network Meeting in Skukuza

EORC at the Savanna Science Network Meeting in Skukuza

Researchers from the Earth Observation Research Cluster (EORC) at the University of Würzburg are pleased to take part in this year’s Savanna Science Network Meeting, held in Skukuza, Kruger National Park. Our EORC is represented by Dr. Mirjana Bevanda and PhD...

CHARM-EU workshop on earth observation

CHARM-EU workshop on earth observation

This week, the CHARM-EU teaching by the EORC staff continued. Over the past days, Florian Betz stayed at the University of Montpellier for a workshop with the water track master students of CHARM-EU. Topic of the workshop was the use of earth observation and...

Guest talk at ENS Lyon

Guest talk at ENS Lyon

Our PI Florian Betz was invited to give a seminar talk about his research on remote sensing of river dynamics at the ENS Lyon in France. The seminar "Cafe Fluvial" is part of the doctoral training and research network "H2O Lyon" in which a number of research...

Successful MSc Defense by Lena Jäger

Successful MSc Defense by Lena Jäger

On 24 February 2026, EAGLE MSc student Lena Jäger successfully defended her Master’s thesis titled “Assessing the potential of thermal UAS for spatio-temporal Arctic snow monitoring – A pilot study in Bjørndalen, Svalbard.” Her work focused on one of the Arctic’s most...

Henri Debray Successfully Defends PhD on Global Urban Morphology

Henri Debray Successfully Defends PhD on Global Urban Morphology

We are delighted to announce that our PhD student Henri Debray has successfully defended his doctoral thesis, “Characterizing Urban Morphology at a Global Scale: Geospatial Perspectives,”. Henri’s thesis builds on a series of his scientific publications investigating...

Share This