Predicting habitat suitability for wild deer in relation to threatened ecological communities in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia

Context. High density deer populations can cause ecological damage, yet their distribution and impacts are poorly known across much of Australia. As a result, land managers rely on anecdotal reports to make decisions about management and control measures.

Aims. We aimed to model habitat suitability for deer in the South Coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, to be used as a baseline for future management and identify which threatened ecological communities (TECs) in the region are at greatest current risk of being occupied by deer.

Methods. We compiled 678 presence-only records of wild deer from online databases, observations made by National Parks and Wildlife Service field staff and field-based surveys. We combined these observations with eight environmental variables to model and map habitat suitability for deer across our study area using maximum entropy. Three spatial models of habitat suitability across our study area were produced: one for all deer species; and two spec...