Abstract
Elevated deer densities have led to reports of forest regeneration failure and ecological damage. However, there is growing evidence that the biophysical conditions of a forest that make it attractive to deer may be a contributing factor in determining browsing levels. Thus, an understanding of settling stimulus—how attractive an area is to deer in terms of food-independent habitat requirements—is potentially important to manage deer browsing impacts. We tested the settling stimulus hypothesis by evaluating the degree to which thermal settling stimulus and deer density are related to spatial variation in browsing intensity across different forest harvesting strategies over the course of a year. We determined if deer were impacting plant communities and if they resulted in changes in plant cover. We quantified the thermal environment around each harvest and tested to see if it influenced deer density and browsing impact. We found that deer had an impact on the landscape but did not alter plant cover or diminish forest regeneration capacity. Deer density and browse impact had a relationship with thermal settling stimulus for summer and fall months, and deer density had a relationship with browse impact in the winter on woody plants. We conclude that thermal settling stimulus is an important predictor for deer density and browsing impact.
Highlights
The slowing or failure of the regeneration of high value timber species in the northeastern USA is often attributed to high white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) abundances [1, 2]
The rationale for the study was that if deer activity density or thermal settling stimulus was an important determinant of deer impacts on forests, these variables should explain a high degree of variation in browse impact and potential forest regeneration failure
We found thermal settling stimulus to be related to estimated deer activity density in the summer and fall seasons
Summary
The slowing or failure of the regeneration of high value timber species in the northeastern USA is often attributed to high white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) abundances [1, 2]. Deer impacts may be alleviated via forest management strategies that mediate settling stimulus and thereby make economically valuable forest stands less attractive to deer [1, 19, 24] To this end, forest harvesting strategies that consider settling stimulus may reduce a stand’s predisposition to heavy browsing by deer [15, 19]. Forest harvesting strategies that consider settling stimulus may reduce a stand’s predisposition to heavy browsing by deer [15, 19] This is a well-tested hypothesis for European ungulates such as roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), this remains an untested hypothesis for white-tailed deer. The objective of this study was to experimentally test the extent to which thermal settling stimulus, determined by the thermal
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