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White Tailed Deer Inventory at Vicksburg National Military Park 2023 - Open Format Dataset

Metadata Updated: May 11, 2025

White-tailed deer (WTD) can exert substantial impacts on the ecosystems in the Southeastern United States. WTD populations in Vicksburg National Military Park (VICK) have not been surveyed since 2010. This study aimed to develop a cost-effective visual count-density conversion method using WTD counts from spotlight surveys and density estimates from fecal-DNA spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) models. We conducted spotlight surveys of WTD in January, March, and May, 2023. Average visual counts of WTD were 96.0 in January, March, and May. Direct visual deer counts were greater than those of the 2009 VICK WTD spotlight surveys by 40%-220%. Average WTD relative abundances were 8.5 deer per mile in January, March, and May, respectively. Average density estimated by distance sampling models was 0.65 deer per ha. We used eight microsatellite markers to genotype WTD fecal samples, fecal DNA spatially explicit capture-recapture models estimated 778 WTD within VICK. The WTD densities were positively related to the proportions of forests and open fields in VICK. White-tailed deer appeared to be overabundant within VICK, causing concerns relative to WTD-human conflicts and exacerbating the risk of wildlife disease transmission. We proposed a method for estimating WTD densities with visual counts, which will allow park staff to convert WTD visual counts from spotlight surveys to WTD densities until substantial changes in VICK’s vegetation and/or habitat management occur. The timely, cost-effective monitoring of WTD populations can help park staff better manage natural resources within VICK, including the mitigation of the damages caused by overabundant WTD to natural resources.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: us-pd

Downloads & Resources

References

https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2310846

Dates

Metadata Created Date May 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date May 11, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date May 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date May 11, 2025
Publisher National Park Service
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/d3ed55b4611865ad5a0b7293cb830ecc
Identifier NPS_DataStore_2310846
Data First Published 2025-05-01T12:00:00Z
Data Last Modified 2025-05-01
Category Data Package
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:24
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Data Quality True
Harvest Object Id 43dcfbd0-402a-4d5b-9b17-e89784952ae8
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Homepage URL https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2310846
License http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
Old Spatial -90.934,32.3033,-90.519,32.3819
Program Code 010:118, 010:119
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > National Park Service
Related Documents https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2310846
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 88c4396e910974120c3b288ad7eb430b26e4b999a0183b5f0de99091e3625b30
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -90.934, 32.3033, -90.934, 32.3819, -90.519, 32.3819, -90.519, 32.3033, -90.934, 32.3033}
Temporal 2023-01-05T12:00:00Z/2023-05-18T12:00:00Z

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