Abstract
We evaluated the utility of GPS collars for Sika deer (Cervus nippon) in temperate forests in northern Osaka. The collar successfully signaled locations in young Japanese cypress stands, Japanese red pine stands, broad-leaved deciduous stands and a dry rice paddy. The canopy openness at each point was more than 10%, and DOP (dilution of precision) was less than 5, while locations were not fixed under broad-leaved evergreen stands where canopy openness was 6.3% (Mean). We examined the performance of two GPS collars fitted onto Sika deer every 3 hours for 392 and 372 days, respectively. The GPS collars signaled the location successfully in 26.9% (846/3141, number of locations/number of all positioning trials) and 20.7% (618/2989) of cases. The successful trial ratio decreased over the summer, while DOP value was not affected by season. The vegetation types around the GPS locations were young Japanese cypress stands, broad-leaved forests with pine wilt disease infections, broad-leaved deciduous stands and rice paddies, but there was no difference in DOP among these vegetation types.
