Lek use in male and female fallow deer.

1<p>Females that did not visit a lek were excluded.</p><p>Lek use by radiocollared male and female fallow deer in the San Rossore Estate during 7 consecutive rutting periods. Lek use was computed combining direct lek observations with spatial data gathered by continuous and discontinuous radiotracking.</p

Predictions of three models on lek formation.

<p>Predictions of 3 models on lek formation related to field data collected in the San Rossore fallow deer population over 7 consecutive years. Two leks with more than 15 actively defended territories were present during the study.</p><p>Data sources:</p>1<p><i>direct observations on leks;</i></p>2<p><i>discontinuous radiotracking of females outside the rut;</i></p>3<p><i>continuous radiotracking of females before, during, and after the rut;</i></p>4<p><i>discontinuous radiotracking of females during the rut;</i></p>5<p><i>discontinuous radiotracking of males during and outside the rut;</i></p>6<p><i>marking activities collected outside the lek before, during, and after the rut.</i></p

Spatial relocations of male and female fallow deer.

<p>Spatial distribution of female fallow deer fixes (white dots) recorded during 7 consecutive years in San Rossore. Relocations collected during the autumn were those represented by black dots. The lek area, fenced areas (not available to deer), and coastal habitats unused by deer (<i>i.e.</i> maritime pine woods, degraded coastal zone, dune vegetation) were reported in the map.</p

The handy location of lek SG: balancing the cost of mate assessment against predation risk.

<p>Model of the southern side of the study area showing how it was subdivided by 300×300 m grid squares, each of them representing a hypothetical lek. The travel cost (linear distance) required by females to move from hotspot centres to each hypothetical lek was reported in the left map (<b>a</b>), where darker colours indicate hypothetical leks that require higher travel costs to be reached by females. The predation risk of each hypothetical lek was computed as the linear distance from the disturbed sector and was shown in the central map (<b>b</b>), where lighter colours indicate hypothetical leks with lower predation risk by humans. The right map (<b>c</b>) represents the final spatial model which combines travel cost and predation risk values. Lighter areas represent those hypothetical leks with the best combination of low travel cost and low predation risk. Lek SG is located right in this area of the study site.</p

Timing of lek use by male and female fallow deer.

<p><i>Upper panel</i> - Occurrence (mean ± SE) of male visual references for dominance (<i>i.e.</i>, male marking activities on the ground or the vegetation) recorded outside the lek from late August to mid-November (1997–2003). <i>Lower panel</i> - Number of radio-collared males that arrived at (black bars) or left (grey bars) the lek during the mating season (period 1997–2003). Nine males left the lek later than Nov 17^th and thus were not included in the figure. Number of radio-collared females that visited the lek during the mating season is indicated by shaded bars.</p

Location of female hotspots with respect to lek position.

<p>Spatial location of high female fallow deer traffic areas (hotspots) recorded in autumn from 1997 to 2003 in San Rossore. Hotspots were defined as the maximum overlap areas occurring among at least 3 home ranges (Kernel 90% isopleths) of females belonging to different social units. The lek area, fenced areas (not available to deer), and coastal habitats unused by deer (<i>i.e.</i> maritime pine woods, degraded coastal zone, dune vegetation), and the distance between the lek and hotspots were reported in the map.</p

Supported predictions of models on lek formation.

<p>Predictions of models on lek formation that were supported by field data in the lekking fallow deer population of San Rossore (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0089852#pone-0089852-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a> for details on field data and models' predictions).</p