Wetland seed dispersal by white-tailed deer in a large freshwater wetland complex.

Kelley L Flaherty,James S Rentch,James T Anderson

doi:10.1093/aobpla/plx074

Kelley L Flaherty, James S Rentch + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plx074

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Abstract

Mechanisms of long-distance dispersal are important in establishing and maintaining plant populations in isolated wetland habitats. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have been cited as long-distance dispersers of both native and exotic plant species in North America; however, knowledge regarding their influence in wetlands is limited. Given traditional classification methods for seed dispersal, white-tailed deer are not likely viewed as important dispersal mechanism for wetland plants. We collected naturally deposited white-tailed deer faecal pellet piles from wetlands in Canaan Valley, West Virginia, USA. Pellet piles were cold-stratified and germinated seedlings over a layer of sterile potting mix. The percentage of germinated seedlings with a facultative wetland (FACW) or obligate wetland (OBL) plant indicator status were compared to the frequency of occurrence to those of germinated plants with facultative upland (FACU) or upland (UPL) indicator status. We identified 38 species. Of these, 1 % were UPL, 38 % were FACU, 18 % were FACW and 21 % were OBL. Graminoid species accounted for 42 %; forbs and woody species accounted for 29 % each. Our research has suggested that endozoochory by herbivores contributes to long-distance dispersal of wetland plants.

Highlights

Much of the research concerning the effects of deer on plant communities have focused on their role as browsers and the potential for overbrowsing (Alverson and Waller 1997; Stromayer and Warren 1997; Royo et al 2010)
We examined the potential for white-tailed deer to disperse wetland species by collecting and germinating seeds from natural faecal pellet piles from the Canaan Valley, West Virginia, USA high-elevation wetland complex to determine the species of germinable seeds they contain as well as what percentage come from obligate and facultative wetland plant species
We found no significant difference between the proportion of species germinated that have a facultative wetland (FACW) (n = 8) or obligate wetland (OBL) (n = 9) wetland indicator status (40 %) and those that had a facultative upland (FACU) (n = 12, 35 %) or UPL (n = 1) status (35 %, P > 0.05; Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Much of the research concerning the effects of deer on plant communities have focused on their role as browsers and the potential for overbrowsing (Alverson and Waller 1997; Stromayer and Warren 1997; Royo et al 2010). Several studies have looked at the role of white-tailed deer as both seed predators and seed dispersers (Cambell and Gibson 2001; Vellend et al 2003; Furedi and McGraw 2004; Myers et al 2004; Bartuszevige and Endress 2008) Due to their large home-range size (e.g. 66–235 ha in WV; Campbell et al 2004) and the potential to retain material in the digestive tract for three or more days (Mautz and Petrides 1971; Moussie et al 2005), white-tailed deer have the potential to carry seeds great distances (Janzen 1984). This may have a considerable effect on metapopulation initiation, growth and gene flow of irregularly distributed and rare plant species (Myers et al 2004).

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