Jenkins and Wright looked at the spatial overlap of white-tailed deer, elk and moose niches and how that effected habitat selection and vegetation preferences. The main factor found to influence all three species was snow depth. Moose preferred snow greater than 60 cm deep while deer and elk were found in areas of least snow pack. Jenkins and Wright found that body-size was positively correlated with the amount and type of food each cervid ate. White-tailed deer foraged on low amounts of high quality browse while elk and moose ate high amounts of lower quality browse. Jenkins and Wright did not find any data that suggested interspecific competition between the animals, but stated some form of competition must exist since moose were found in only the northern third of the study site, even though there was a sufficient amount of suitable moose habitat in the south.
Citations and enhanced abstracts for journals articles and documents focused on rangeland ecology and management. RSIS is a collaboration between Montana State University, University of Idaho, and University of Wyoming.