Modelling geographic patterns of population density of the white‐tailed deer in central Mexico by implementing ecological niche theory

Researchers developed a robust method to predict white-tailed deer population density using ecological niche theory, achieving high accuracy (62–65%) in two Mexican regions: the Balsas Basin and Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley. The approach combines occurrence data with environmental variables to map species distribution, then calculates ecological distance from niche centroids to model density patterns. This science-based correlative method offers a spatially explicit tool for conservation, applicable where abundance or relative abundance data exist. Validated via bootstrapping, it provides a novel framework for predicting population density in white-tailed deer and potentially other species.

Yañez‐Arenas, C., Martínez‐Meyer, E., Mandujano, S., & Rojas‐Soto, O. (2012). Modelling geographic patterns of population density of the white‐tailed deer in central Mexico by implementing ecological niche theory. Oikos, 121(12), 2081–2089. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20350.x