{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/143483"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/143483","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Ecological insight into three neotropical deer species: A study of spatial and diel distributions of white-tailed, Central American red brocket, and Yucatan brown brocket deer in northern Belize, Central America","abstract":"Niche theory predicts that ecologically similar species sharing space and resources must differ along at least one niche axis to coexist, with space, time, and diet as the three primary axes. Despite their ecological and cultural significance in Central America, no peer-reviewed study has examined how the regional deer community partitions these axes. Using a 12-year camera trap dataset (2011-2023) of 1,214 deployments across four protected sites in the Greater Belize Maya Forest, we tested the spatial and temporal dimensions of niche partitioning among three sympatric deer species: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus nemoralis; WTD), Central American red brocket deer (Mazama temama; RBD), and Yucatan brown brocket deer (Odocoileus pandora; YBB). Notably, our study provides the first confirmed camera record and the first empirical information of the YBB in Belize. In Chapter 1, we used single-season occupancy modeling on WTD and RBD detections to estimate occupancy and identify habitat, predator, and anthropogenic drivers of species distribution and to quantify overlap in space use between the two species. WTD behaved as an edge-and-corridor generalist, with detection driven by low canopy and high human activity, while RBD aligned with a forest-interior specialist, requiring high canopy, dense understory, and narrow roads. Both species maintained high occupancy (psi) across years (WTD psi 0.55-0.77; RBD psi 0.52-0.81), but their spatial overlap (Schoener's D 0.62-0.85) fell significantly below random expectation in 2017 and 2018, years of intensified human disturbance, indicating that the two species actively segregate spatially under anthropogenic pressure. In Chapter 2, we used kernel density estimation and the Diel.Niche Bayesian framework on 4,692 WTD, 1,457 RBD, and 33 YBB detections to characterize diel activity and investigate overlap (Δ) on a 0-1 scale, between species pairs. All three species were classified as diurnal, but with significant differences in the shape and timing of their activity distributions (WTD-RBD Δ= 0.87; RBD-YBB Δ= 0.76). Under elevated predator and human pressure, RBD compressed activity earlier into the morning, while WTD expanded activity into the morning and evening edges of daylight. Together, the two chapters show that these deer partition both the spatial and temporal axes of their shared niche, with RBD consistently more sensitive to canopy loss, road expansion, and human disturbance than WTD. We propose RBD as a candidate indicator species for forest integrity, and caution that managing these sympatric cervids as ecologically interchangeable, risks overlooking the species most vulnerable to ongoing land-use change.","abstract_html":"Niche theory predicts that ecologically similar species sharing space and resources must differ along at least one niche axis to coexist, with space, time, and diet as the three primary axes. Despite their ecological and cultural significance in Central America, no peer-reviewed study has examined how the regional deer community partitions these axes. Using a 12-year camera trap dataset (2011-2023) of 1,214 deployments across four protected sites in the Greater Belize Maya Forest, we tested the spatial and temporal dimensions of niche partitioning among three sympatric deer species: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus nemoralis; WTD), Central American red brocket deer (Mazama temama; RBD), and Yucatan brown brocket deer (Odocoileus pandora; YBB). Notably, our study provides the first confirmed camera record and the first empirical information of the YBB in Belize. In Chapter 1, we used single-season occupancy modeling on WTD and RBD detections to estimate occupancy and identify habitat, predator, and anthropogenic drivers of species distribution and to quantify overlap in space use between the two species. WTD behaved as an edge-and-corridor generalist, with detection driven by low canopy and high human activity, while RBD aligned with a forest-interior specialist, requiring high canopy, dense understory, and narrow roads. Both species maintained high occupancy (psi) across years (WTD psi 0.55-0.77; RBD psi 0.52-0.81), but their spatial overlap (Schoener's D 0.62-0.85) fell significantly below random expectation in 2017 and 2018, years of intensified human disturbance, indicating that the two species actively segregate spatially under anthropogenic pressure. In Chapter 2, we used kernel density estimation and the Diel.Niche Bayesian framework on 4,692 WTD, 1,457 RBD, and 33 YBB detections to characterize diel activity and investigate overlap (Δ) on a 0-1 scale, between species pairs. All three species were classified as diurnal, but with significant differences in the shape and timing of their activity distributions (WTD-RBD Δ= 0.87; RBD-YBB Δ= 0.76). Under elevated predator and human pressure, RBD compressed activity earlier into the morning, while WTD expanded activity into the morning and evening edges of daylight. Together, the two chapters show that these deer partition both the spatial and temporal axes of their shared niche, with RBD consistently more sensitive to canopy loss, road expansion, and human disturbance than WTD. We propose RBD as a candidate indicator species for forest integrity, and caution that managing these sympatric cervids as ecologically interchangeable, risks overlooking the species most vulnerable to ongoing land-use change.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Tzib, Johny Isaias"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Fisheries and Wildlife Science","degree_department":"Fish and Wildlife Conservation","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Kelly, Marcella J.","Jesmer, Brett Richard"],"committee_members":["Kay, Elma"],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026-06-22","date_published":"2026-06-22","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:56:01Z","subjects":["camera trapping","niche partitioning","occupancy modeling","kernel density estimation","Mazama temama temama","Odocoileus virginianus nemoralis","Odocoileus pandora","Selva Maya"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:47130"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:47130","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10919/143483","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Kelly, Marcella J.","Jesmer, Brett Richard"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Kay, Elma"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Fish and Wildlife Conservation"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Tzib, Johny Isaias"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-06-23T08:01:54Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-06-23T08:01:54Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2026-06-22"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Fisheries and Wildlife Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["camera trapping","niche partitioning","occupancy modeling","kernel density estimation","Mazama temama temama","Odocoileus virginianus nemoralis","Odocoileus pandora","Selva Maya"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:47130"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/143483"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Niche theory predicts that ecologically similar species sharing space and resources must differ along at least one niche axis to coexist, with space, time, and diet as the three primary axes. Despite their ecological and cultural significance in Central America, no peer-reviewed study has examined how the regional deer community partitions these axes. Using a 12-year camera trap dataset (2011-2023) of 1,214 deployments across four protected sites in the Greater Belize Maya Forest, we tested the spatial and temporal dimensions of niche partitioning among three sympatric deer species: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus nemoralis; WTD), Central American red brocket deer (Mazama temama; RBD), and Yucatan brown brocket deer (Odocoileus pandora; YBB). Notably, our study provides the first confirmed camera record and the first empirical information of the YBB in Belize. In Chapter 1, we used single-season occupancy modeling on WTD and RBD detections to estimate occupancy and identify habitat, predator, and anthropogenic drivers of species distribution and to quantify overlap in space use between the two species. WTD behaved as an edge-and-corridor generalist, with detection driven by low canopy and high human activity, while RBD aligned with a forest-interior specialist, requiring high canopy, dense understory, and narrow roads. Both species maintained high occupancy (psi) across years (WTD psi 0.55-0.77; RBD psi 0.52-0.81), but their spatial overlap (Schoener's D 0.62-0.85) fell significantly below random expectation in 2017 and 2018, years of intensified human disturbance, indicating that the two species actively segregate spatially under anthropogenic pressure. In Chapter 2, we used kernel density estimation and the Diel.Niche Bayesian framework on 4,692 WTD, 1,457 RBD, and 33 YBB detections to characterize diel activity and investigate overlap (Δ) on a 0-1 scale, between species pairs. All three species were classified as diurnal, but with significant differences in the shape and timing of their activity distributions (WTD-RBD Δ= 0.87; RBD-YBB Δ= 0.76). Under elevated predator and human pressure, RBD compressed activity earlier into the morning, while WTD expanded activity into the morning and evening edges of daylight. Together, the two chapters show that these deer partition both the spatial and temporal axes of their shared niche, with RBD consistently more sensitive to canopy loss, road expansion, and human disturbance than WTD. We propose RBD as a candidate indicator species for forest integrity, and caution that managing these sympatric cervids as ecologically interchangeable, risks overlooking the species most vulnerable to ongoing land-use change."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["Northern Belize is home to three species of deer that share the same protected tropical forest: the common white-tailed deer, found at forest edges and along roads, and two smaller, less familiar forest-dwellers, the red brocket deer and the Yucatan brown brocket deer. How three closely related species manage to co-exist in the same forest, eat similar foods, and face the same predators is one of the basic puzzles of ecology. Most often, the answer is that they avoid each other in either space, time, diet or all three. Confirmed here on camera in Belize for the first time, this study provides the first empirical information on the Yucatan Brown Brocket deer in Belize. To address the space and time use components and learn how these deer share the forest, we set up motion-activated cameras at 1,214 locations across four protected areas in the Greater Belize Maya Forest and ran them for 2-3 months per year for 12 years (2011-2023). The cameras quietly recorded which species used which parts of the forest, and at what hour of the day. The white-tailed deer turned out to be flexible, comfortable at forest edges, near roads, and around people, with a daily activity pattern spread across the day. The red brocket deer, by contrast, stayed inside the dense forest, avoided wide roads and human activity, and concentrated its movements in a short window of the early morning. The Yucatan brown brocket deer, the rarest of the three, was active mostly in the middle of the day. In years with the heaviest human activity, the deer pulled even farther apart, both in where they went and when they moved. These protected areas are a haven for all three deer species, but the balance that lets them share the forest is delicate. The red brocket deer is the most sensitive of the three: it appears to need dense canopy, intact forest interiors, and quiet hours when humans and other predators are less active, and it shifts its behavior the most when those things are disturbed. We propose using the red brocket deer as a candidate early-warning indicator of forest health in northern Belize. When the red brocket deer begin to retreat, it is a sign the forest itself is likely under pressure, even before the change may be visible to us."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Ecological insight into three neotropical deer species: A study of spatial and diel distributions of white-tailed, Central American red brocket, and Yucatan brown brocket deer in northern Belize, Central America"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Kelly, Marcella J.","Jesmer, Brett Richard"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Kay, Elma"],"dc:contributor.department":["Fish and Wildlife Conservation"],"dc:creator":["Tzib, Johny Isaias"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-06-23T08:01:54Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-06-23T08:01:54Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2026-06-22"],"dc:description.abstract":["Niche theory predicts that ecologically similar species sharing space and resources must differ along at least one niche axis to coexist, with space, time, and diet as the three primary axes. Despite their ecological and cultural significance in Central America, no peer-reviewed study has examined how the regional deer community partitions these axes. Using a 12-year camera trap dataset (2011-2023) of 1,214 deployments across four protected sites in the Greater Belize Maya Forest, we tested the spatial and temporal dimensions of niche partitioning among three sympatric deer species: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus nemoralis; WTD), Central American red brocket deer (Mazama temama; RBD), and Yucatan brown brocket deer (Odocoileus pandora; YBB). Notably, our study provides the first confirmed camera record and the first empirical information of the YBB in Belize. In Chapter 1, we used single-season occupancy modeling on WTD and RBD detections to estimate occupancy and identify habitat, predator, and anthropogenic drivers of species distribution and to quantify overlap in space use between the two species. WTD behaved as an edge-and-corridor generalist, with detection driven by low canopy and high human activity, while RBD aligned with a forest-interior specialist, requiring high canopy, dense understory, and narrow roads. Both species maintained high occupancy (psi) across years (WTD psi 0.55-0.77; RBD psi 0.52-0.81), but their spatial overlap (Schoener's D 0.62-0.85) fell significantly below random expectation in 2017 and 2018, years of intensified human disturbance, indicating that the two species actively segregate spatially under anthropogenic pressure. In Chapter 2, we used kernel density estimation and the Diel.Niche Bayesian framework on 4,692 WTD, 1,457 RBD, and 33 YBB detections to characterize diel activity and investigate overlap (Δ) on a 0-1 scale, between species pairs. All three species were classified as diurnal, but with significant differences in the shape and timing of their activity distributions (WTD-RBD Δ= 0.87; RBD-YBB Δ= 0.76). Under elevated predator and human pressure, RBD compressed activity earlier into the morning, while WTD expanded activity into the morning and evening edges of daylight. Together, the two chapters show that these deer partition both the spatial and temporal axes of their shared niche, with RBD consistently more sensitive to canopy loss, road expansion, and human disturbance than WTD. We propose RBD as a candidate indicator species for forest integrity, and caution that managing these sympatric cervids as ecologically interchangeable, risks overlooking the species most vulnerable to ongoing land-use change."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["Northern Belize is home to three species of deer that share the same protected tropical forest: the common white-tailed deer, found at forest edges and along roads, and two smaller, less familiar forest-dwellers, the red brocket deer and the Yucatan brown brocket deer. How three closely related species manage to co-exist in the same forest, eat similar foods, and face the same predators is one of the basic puzzles of ecology. Most often, the answer is that they avoid each other in either space, time, diet or all three. Confirmed here on camera in Belize for the first time, this study provides the first empirical information on the Yucatan Brown Brocket deer in Belize. To address the space and time use components and learn how these deer share the forest, we set up motion-activated cameras at 1,214 locations across four protected areas in the Greater Belize Maya Forest and ran them for 2-3 months per year for 12 years (2011-2023). The cameras quietly recorded which species used which parts of the forest, and at what hour of the day. The white-tailed deer turned out to be flexible, comfortable at forest edges, near roads, and around people, with a daily activity pattern spread across the day. The red brocket deer, by contrast, stayed inside the dense forest, avoided wide roads and human activity, and concentrated its movements in a short window of the early morning. The Yucatan brown brocket deer, the rarest of the three, was active mostly in the middle of the day. In years with the heaviest human activity, the deer pulled even farther apart, both in where they went and when they moved. These protected areas are a haven for all three deer species, but the balance that lets them share the forest is delicate. The red brocket deer is the most sensitive of the three: it appears to need dense canopy, intact forest interiors, and quiet hours when humans and other predators are less active, and it shifts its behavior the most when those things are disturbed. We propose using the red brocket deer as a candidate early-warning indicator of forest health in northern Belize. When the red brocket deer begin to retreat, it is a sign the forest itself is likely under pressure, even before the change may be visible to us."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:47130"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/143483"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["camera trapping","niche partitioning","occupancy modeling","kernel density estimation","Mazama temama temama","Odocoileus virginianus nemoralis","Odocoileus pandora","Selva Maya"],"dc:title":["Ecological insight into three neotropical deer species: A study of spatial and diel distributions of white-tailed, Central American red brocket, and Yucatan brown brocket deer in northern Belize, Central America"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Fisheries and Wildlife Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:56:01Z"}