Investigation of habitat suitability for the reintroduction of red deer in Grammos

The spread of red deer in Greece has been limited in only two mountainous areas. The aim of this research was to investigate this possibility in the region of Grammos. The red deer behaviour as well as diet, habitats in the area, the preferable grazing areas and sheltering during the winter and summer period, was taking into account to create a qualitative Habitat Suitability Model with the use of Geographic Information Systems. A number of factors like natural vegetation and topography (elevation, slope, aspect) were combined to create to determine the areas with disturbance factors, food availability and topography (habitat suitability map). It was found that the most suitable habitat was oak forests with low woody cover (10-40%) where management practices that favour regeneration and a lot of herbaceous vegetation can be found in the forest floor.