Two study areas (called landscapes) were selected with the assistance of the Forest Landscape Ecology lab at UW-Madison. The landscapes were centered in the 2002-2003 WDNR Disease Eradication Zone, Intensive Harvest Zone, and surrounding area in south-central Wisconsin, across an area dominated by agriculture with interspersed woodlots. Each 31-mi squared landscape contains six sublandscapes (~1 mi squared each) on which the deer ecology study is focused. Sublandscapes were chosen based on their forest to agriculture ratio in order to sample a wide range of habitat fragmenation. Research is currently being conducted in two landscapes (2A and 4A) inside the Disease Eradication Zone. The map below outlines the two landscapes located west of Madison in Iowa and Dane county.
