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European Roe Deer Used Reforested Eucalyptus Stands Less Than Afforestation Stands in the 2020 Dry Season

Male European roe deer standing in a woodland clearing
Research · Ecology

European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) did not use all stages of commercial eucalyptus plantations in the same way in central Portugal. A study published on 26 May 2026 analysed 375 camera-trap deployments across five plantation landscapes during wet and dry seasons in 2019 and 2020.

The researchers estimated site use: the probability that a camera location was being used by roe deer after accounting for the fact that an animal can use an area without being photographed. This is therefore a measure of space use, not roe deer abundance.

Reforestation showed the clearest short-term reduction in site use

The strongest result came from the 2020 dry season. Roe deer site use was lower in reforestation stands than in afforestation stands, and the way site use changed with time since intervention differed among management regimens.

The regimens represent different levels of disturbance. Afforestation establishes a new eucalyptus stand without first removing a mature eucalyptus stand. Coppice allows eucalyptus to regrow from harvested stumps without complete soil preparation. Reforestation is the strongest reset: it typically involves stump removal, soil preparation, replanting and heavier machinery. The authors therefore interpret the lower use of recently reforested stands as a response to the loss of cover and the acute disturbance created by intensive forestry operations.

Graph showing predicted European Roe Deer site-use probability by time since intervention for afforestation, coppice and reforestation eucalyptus stands
Predicted European Roe Deer site-use probability by time since intervention and eucalyptus production regimen during the 2020 dry season; shaded areas show uncertainty ranges. Figure 2 from Ares-Pereira et al. (2026), Animals, CC BY 4.0.

Use could recover as vegetation returned

The other monitoring periods did not show one uniform pattern. In the 2020 wet season, roe deer site use increased with time since the most recent forestry intervention. In the 2020 dry season, recovery through time depended on the management regimen and was clearest in reforestation stands. The 2019 dry-season analysis suggested a more complex pattern, but statistical support was weaker, while the 2019 wet-season data mainly helped explain how readily cameras detected the animals.

Biologically, the results suggest that roe deer can begin using plantation stands again as vegetation cover and feeding opportunities recover after disturbance, but the study does not show the same response in every season or management stage. The authors therefore describe the support for recovery with time as moderate rather than universal.

The size of an individual eucalyptus stand was more consistently related to camera detectability than to ecological site use. In other words, larger or smaller plantation stands affected how likely cameras were to record roe deer more consistently than they affected whether roe deer actually used the site.

The authors conclude that eucalyptus plantations should not be treated as one uniform habitat type. Limiting the extent and synchrony of intensive reforestation, while retaining less disturbed parts of the plantation mosaic, could reduce periods in which large adjoining areas offer little cover or refuge. They stress that movement studies, for example with GPS tracking, are still needed to test how roe deer move among these changing plantation stages.

Sources and image credit

  1. Ares-Pereira, G., Torres, R. T., Teixeira, D., Morgado, R. G., Henriques, J. F., Castro, G., Magalhães, A., Lima, C., Camarinha, C., & Rosalino, L. M. (2026). Eucalyptus plantation management shapes roe deer site-use patterns. Animals, 16(11), 1613. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16111613Primary peer-reviewed open-access study published 26 May 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Five commercial eucalyptus plantation landscapes in central Portugal were analysed using 375 camera-trap deployments across wet and dry seasons in 2019 and 2020. The strongest site-use result occurred in the 2020 dry season, when reforestation stands had lower estimated site use than afforestation stands and temporal responses differed among production regimens.

Image: W.carter / Wikimedia Commons — European Roe Deer photographed at Tuntorp, Brastad, Sweden, 24 May 2026; representative species image, not from the study · CC BY 4.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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