SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATION IN POPULATION DENSITIES OF THE ROE DEER Capreolus capreolus AND THE RED DEER Cervus elaphus IN SW POLAND

Being the most abundant cervid across most European countries, the roe deer and red deer have an increasing ecological and economic importance and are subjected to intensive management.Using the hunting bags data, spatial and temporal changes in population densities of both species during the years 1981-2020 in SW Poland (29 358 km 2 , including 8411 km 2 forests) have been analyzed.In 1981In -1990In , 120 135, whereas in 1991In -2000, 194 , 194 018 red deer were culled (61.5% increase).In 2001-2010 there were 195 563 individuals harvested (0.8% increase in relation to the previous decade).In 2011-2020, the harvest was 2.1-fold higher in relation to [1980][1981][1982][1983][1984][1985][1986][1987][1988][1989][1990].Crude population densities of the roe deer was spatially very varied, ranging from 4.8 ind./1000 ha to 209.9 ind./1000 ha.The ecological density was much lower and much less spatially varied (4.0 ind./1000 ha to 14.4 ind./1000 ha).In 1981In -1990In , 28 698, whereas in 1991In -2000, 45 , 45 255 red deer were culled (57.7% increase).In 2001-2010 there were 49 504 individuals harvested (9.4% increase in relation to the previous decade).In 2011-2020, the harvest was 3.2-fold higher in relation to [1980][1981][1982][1983][1984][1985][1986][1987][1988][1989][1990].Crude population densities of the red deer ranged from 2.0 ind./1000 ha to 23.4 ind./1000 ha The ecological density was less varied spatially (<0.1 ind./1000 ha to 13.7 ind./1000 ha), both deer species are overabundant, and require carefully planned management in some ecoregions in SW Poland.