{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T08:51:16Z","timestamp":1791276676535,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":82,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791244800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":5,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790812800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Ecological Applications"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    Group size in ungulates is believed to reflect a balance between antipredator strategies and competition for resources. We studied chital (\n                    <jats:italic>Axis axis<\/jats:italic>\n                    ) group sizes across habitat types representing variation in food availability and predator cover, along with predator density and chital density, within moist deciduous forests of Kanha National Park, India. Habitat\u2010specific chital density was estimated using distance sampling followed by density surface modeling, while tiger and leopard densities (major predators of chital) were derived from camera\u2010trap\u2010based spatially explicit capture\u2013recapture models. Group size data were obtained through systematic habitat\u2010based surveys. We found that both chital density and typical group size varied among habitat types. Densities and group sizes were highest in grasslands (110.09\u2009\u00b1\u200941.15 per 25\u2009km\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    ; 18.2\u2009\u00b1\u20091.4; mean\u2009\u00b1\u2009SE), followed by miscellaneous forests (21.97\u2009\u00b1\u20096.04; 10.3\u2009\u00b1\u20091.2; mean\u2009\u00b1\u2009SE), and lowest in sal (\n                    <jats:italic>Shorea robusta<\/jats:italic>\n                    ) forests (6.58\u2009\u00b1\u20090.60; 5.18\u2009\u00b1\u20092.2; mean\u2009\u00b1\u2009SE). These habitat\u2010driven differences in chital density strongly predicted typical group size, explaining 44% of its variation (\n                    <jats:italic>R<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    \u2009=\u20090.44,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009\u2264\u20090.001). Predator density correlated positively with chital density (\n                    <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u20090.54,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009\u2264\u20090.001), suggesting that predators tend to occur where prey is more abundant. Chital group size also correlated strongly with chital density (\n                    <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u20090.66,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009\u2264\u20090.001). After accounting for the effect of chital density on group size to reduce collinearity, predator density explained 6% (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009&lt;\u20090.05) of the remaining variation in chital group size, indicating a modest secondary role for predation, with the remaining variation likely driven by a combination of density\u2010dependent and habitat\u2010related factors. Grasslands, despite comprising only ~9% of Kanha, supported the highest chital densities and largest group sizes, indicating that they function as key aggregation areas for chital within the landscape. Maintaining these habitats is therefore important for sustaining high local chital densities. The strong relationship between group size and chital density further suggests that group size can serve as a practical, low\u2010cost indicator of relative chital abundance.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/eap.70321","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T07:27:37Z","timestamp":1791271657000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Chital group size: More about food, less about fear in predator\u2010dominated tropical forests"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"36","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2545-9136","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Neha","family":"Awasthi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Wildlife Institute of India  Dehradun India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4215-8781","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ujjwal","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wildlife Institute of India  Dehradun India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qamar","family":"Qureshi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wildlife Institute of India  Dehradun India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3276-1384","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yadvendradev V.","family":"Jhala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wildlife Institute of India  Dehradun India"},{"name":"Indian National Science Academy; National Centre for Biological Sciences  Bangalore India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_9_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2015.0314"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10113-016-0953-z"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_4_1","volume-title":"Resource Partitioning among Sympatric Ungulates in Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India","author":"Awasthi N.","year":"2020"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-17756-9_18"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_6_1","unstructured":"Awasthi N. U.Kumar Y.Jhala andQ.Qureshi.2026.\u201cGrid\u2010level data for chital group size density and predator density in Kanha National Park India.\u201dZenodo. [Dataset]https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.21860502."},{"key":"e_1_2_9_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/MAMM.2008.008"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1139\/Z07-129"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/mamm.1991.55.2.207"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v067.i01"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10344-012-0641-3"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780198506492.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_13_1","volume-title":"Antipredator Defenses in Birds and Mammals. Interspecific Interactions","author":"Caro T. M.","year":"2005"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_14_1","volume-title":"A Revised Survey of Forest Types of India","author":"Champion H. 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