There is only one winner: the negative impact of red deer density on roe deer numbers and distribution in the Słowiński National Park and its vicinity

Red and roe deer are the most numerous cervids in Europe and they occur in sympatry in most regions. Roe deer were considered to be an inferior competitor in studies in which they co-occurred with fallow deer or muntjac. Despite the remarkable overlap of their ranges, there are few studies on the competition between the red and roe deer. Since interspecific interactions among ungulates are often related to their mutual densities, the current study focused on the effects of high red deer density on the roe deer numbers and spatial distribution in the unhunted Słowiński National Park (SNP) in northern Poland and forest districts open to hunting bordering the park. Using fecal pellet group counts, it was found that in the forest districts (where red deer densities were 2-3 times lower than in the SNP), roe deer densities were significantly higher than in the park. The red-to-roe deer density ratio was 10.8 and 2.7, in the SNP and the surrounding forest districts, respectively. Moreover, in...