Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Pennsylvania
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Pennsylvania Project

Fawn survival and predator abundance in Pennsylvania

May 2015 - June 2020

Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Pennsylvania Game Commission

Predation is the primary cause of white-tailed deer fawn mortality and is of concern to the hunting public. In this study we monitored survival and cause-specific mortality of fawns and the distribution and abundance of predators (black bear, coyote, and bobcat). The project was funded by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and conducted in collaboration with the USGS Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

Research Publications Publication Date
Gingery, T. M., D. R. Diefenbach, C. E. Pritchard, D. C. Ensminger, B. D. Wallingford, and C. S. Rosenberry. 2020. Survival is negatively associated with glucocorticoids in a wild ungulate neonate. Integrative Zoology 16:214-225. https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12499 | Download November 2020
Gingery, T. M., D. R. Diefenbach, B. D. Wallingford, and C. S. Rosenberry. 2018. Landscape-level patterns in fawn survival across North America. 82:1003-1013 DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.21456. | Download June 2018
Presentations Presentation Date
Gingery, T. M., D. R. Diefenbach, B. D. Wallingford, and C. S. Rosenberry. 2016. White-tailed deer fawn behavior and survival in Pennsylvania. Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Chapter of The Wildlife Society, 16 April 2016, State College, PA. April 2016
Gingery, T. M., D. R. Diefenbach, B. D. Wallingford, and C. S. Rosenberry. Landscape-level patterns in white-tailed deer fawn survival in North America. Annual meeting of The Wildlife Society, 27 September 2017, Albuquerque, NM. September 2017
Gingery, T. M., D. R. Diefenbach, B. D. Wallingford, and C. S. Rosenberry. Space Use of White-tailed Deer Neonates Using Micro-GPS Units. The Wildlife Society Annual Conference, 7-11 October 2018, Cleveland, OH, USA. October 2018
Gingery, T. M., D. R. Diefenbach, B. D. Wallingford, C. S. Rosenberry. White-tailed deer fawn survival in North America. Pennsylvania Chapter of The Wildlife Society annual meeting, 1 April 2017, Raystown Lake, PA. April 2017
Gingery, T. M., D. R. Diefenbach, C. S. Rosenberry, B. D. Wallingford. Landscape-level Patterns in White-tailed deer Fawn Survival in North America. Southeast Deer Study Group Meeting, 21 February 2018, Nashville, TN. February 2018
Murphy, A. U., D. Miller, and D. R. Diefenbach. Examining Habitat Partitioning between Pennsylvania’s Apex Carnivores and a Common Prey Species (White-tailed Deer Fawns; Odocoileus virginianus). North American Congress for Conservation Biology, 21-26 July 2018, Toronto, Canada. July 2018
Murphy, A., D. Miller, and D. R. Diefenbach. Examining habitat partitioning between pennsylvania’s apex carnivores and a common prey species (white-tailed deer fawns). The Wildlife Society Annual Conference, 7-11 October 2018, Cleveland, OH, USA. October 2018
Theses and Dissertations Publication Date
Murphy, A. M. 2021. Examining how spatial-temporal interactions between predators influence the distribution, vigilance, and survival of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns. Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. May 2021
Gingery, T. M. 2018. Spatial and Temporal patterns in white-tailed deer fawn survival and cause-specific mortality. Thesis, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. May 2018