Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Optimal Foraging

Optimal Foraging

How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.

Threats to Biodiversity

Threats to Biodiversity

There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.

Conservation of Small Populations

Conservation of Small Populations

Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...

Migration

Migration

Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Understanding mammal avoidance of human settlements.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026

Same author

Seasonal space use of gray wolves is concurrent with primary prey.

Oecologia·2026

Same author

Interacting effects of human presence and landscape modification on birds and mammals.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026

Same author

Need to Understand the Gaur Ecology and Methodological Framework: A Reply to Sharma (2025).

Ecology and evolution·2026

Same author

Selective Harvests of Brown Bears Associated With Increasing Skull Size and Older Age Structure.

Ecology and evolution·2026

Same author

A cross-site comparison reveals limited geographic variation in risk avoidance of snowshoe hares.

Ecology·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 3, 2025

Protocol for Assessing the Relative Effects of Environment and Genetics on Antler and Body Growth for a Long-lived Cervid

Protocol for Assessing the Relative Effects of Environment and Genetics on Antler and Body Growth for a Long-lived Cervid

Published on: August 8, 2017

White-tailed deer exploit temporal refuge from multi-predator and human risks on roads.

Todd M Kautz¹, Nicholas L Fowler¹, Tyler R Petroelje^1,2

¹College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Global Wildlife Conservation Center State University of New York Syracuse New York USA.

Ecology and Evolution

|July 28, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns adjust their activity to avoid predators, shifting to diurnal periods to minimize risk in multi-predator environments. This strategy balances danger from nocturnal carnivores and diurnal humans.

Keywords:

Canis latrans Canis lupus Lynx rufus Odocoileus virginianus Ursus americanus functional diversity predation temporal partitioning

More Related Videos

A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents

A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents

Published on: May 16, 2025

Transabdominal Ultrasound for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Reeves' Muntjac Deer

Transabdominal Ultrasound for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Reeves' Muntjac Deer

Published on: January 7, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Sep 3, 2025

Protocol for Assessing the Relative Effects of Environment and Genetics on Antler and Body Growth for a Long-lived Cervid

Protocol for Assessing the Relative Effects of Environment and Genetics on Antler and Body Growth for a Long-lived Cervid

Published on: August 8, 2017

A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents

A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents

Published on: May 16, 2025

Transabdominal Ultrasound for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Reeves' Muntjac Deer

Transabdominal Ultrasound for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Reeves' Muntjac Deer

Published on: January 7, 2014

Area of Science:

Ecology
Wildlife Biology
Behavioral Ecology

Background:

Prey species often face multiple predators with varying danger levels.
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can adjust activity to avoid predators like coyotes (Canis latrans).
Multi-predator systems may complicate optimal anti-predation strategies for prey, especially fawns.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) allocate anti-predation behavior in a multi-predator system.
To determine if deer optimize their activity patterns based on combined mortality risks from various predators and human activity.
To assess how fawn presence influences deer activity and risk-taking.

Main Methods:

Measured cause-specific mortality for 777 adult and juvenile white-tailed deer.
Utilized 300 remote cameras to monitor activity of deer, humans, and predators (American black bears, bobcats, coyotes, wolves).
Analyzed temporal activity overlap between deer, predators, and humans.

Main Results:

Juveniles experienced 5.3 times higher mortality than adults due to predation and vehicle collisions.
Deer nursery groups (with fawns) were more diurnal, reducing overlap with carnivores by 24-38% but increasing overlap with humans by 39%.
Deer activity patterns appeared to optimize diel schedules to minimize combined mortality risks.

Conclusions:

White-tailed deer adjust diel activity to mitigate combined mortality risks in multi-predator environments.
Temporal refuge for fawns is achieved by exploiting the trade-off between diurnal humans and nocturnal carnivores.
Functional redundancy among predators may explain similar fawn predation rates in single- and multi-predator systems.