Saving time and money by using diurnal vehicle counts to monitor roe deer abundance

摘要: Despite being a widespread and important game species in Europe, scientifically reliable, easy applicable cost effective methods for monitoring abundance of roe deer Capreolus capreolus populations do not yet exist. The currently recommended kilometric index (AI-p) captures temporal variation the relative populations; however, because this is carried out on foot, it demanding terms sampling effort difficult to apply at spatial scales several hundred km2 typical management units. Here, we propose test modified version by using vehicle carry transects over large areas (AI-v). To validate index, compared population estimated with AI-p AI-v capture—mark—recapture (CMR) estimates density population, Chize (France), monitored 24 years (including eight when both indices were collected). We found no detectable effect conditions obser...