Effects of White-tailed Deer Density on Physical Condition and Forest Vegetation in Cuyahoga Valley National Park PDF Download
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Author: Jacob J. Trowbridge
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Animal population density
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Given that overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can exert lasting negative effects in forested ecosystems, management of deer has been a foremost conservation concern in eastern North America since the last century. Although knowledge of density impacts on body mass, pregnancy rates, and forest regeneration are vital for deer management, relatively few studies have assessed these relationships in the same study area for a >5-year period. I took advantage of a managed culling program to investigate the impacts of deer density on body mass, pregnancy rates, and native forest understory and trillium (Trillium grandiflorium) regeneration at Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CUVA), Ohio, during 2016-2022. Deer densities were estimated using distance sampling in November and deer were culled by sharpshooters the following January-March. Each deer culled was aged, sexed, weighed, and inspected for fetuses (recorded as present or absent). Deer densities ranged from 8.6-18.0 deer/km2 and deer removed each study year varied between 205 and 450. Concurrently, the 1-6 tallest native seedlings per genera per subplot were measured in July-August in 25 fenced and unfenced paired plots and in long-term ecological monitoring (LTEM) plots. Browse was estimated in unfenced paired plots in alternating years. Trillium stem heights in both unfenced controls/fenced exclosures and browse in unfenced control plots were collected in April-June each year. Using a linear mixed model (LME), I analyzed change in body mass of culled deer and found a significant negative relationship with current deer density (P
Author: Jacob J. Trowbridge
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Animal population density
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Given that overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can exert lasting negative effects in forested ecosystems, management of deer has been a foremost conservation concern in eastern North America since the last century. Although knowledge of density impacts on body mass, pregnancy rates, and forest regeneration are vital for deer management, relatively few studies have assessed these relationships in the same study area for a >5-year period. I took advantage of a managed culling program to investigate the impacts of deer density on body mass, pregnancy rates, and native forest understory and trillium (Trillium grandiflorium) regeneration at Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CUVA), Ohio, during 2016-2022. Deer densities were estimated using distance sampling in November and deer were culled by sharpshooters the following January-March. Each deer culled was aged, sexed, weighed, and inspected for fetuses (recorded as present or absent). Deer densities ranged from 8.6-18.0 deer/km2 and deer removed each study year varied between 205 and 450. Concurrently, the 1-6 tallest native seedlings per genera per subplot were measured in July-August in 25 fenced and unfenced paired plots and in long-term ecological monitoring (LTEM) plots. Browse was estimated in unfenced paired plots in alternating years. Trillium stem heights in both unfenced controls/fenced exclosures and browse in unfenced control plots were collected in April-June each year. Using a linear mixed model (LME), I analyzed change in body mass of culled deer and found a significant negative relationship with current deer density (P
Author: William F. Porter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biotic communities
Languages : en
Pages : 72
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Author: Anouk Simard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mammal populations
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Body condition has a strong influence on reproduction and survival. Consequently, understanding spatiotemporal variation in body condition may help identify processes that determine life history, and thus demography. The effect of environmental variables on individuals' body condition, although widely documented, is generally achieved by investigating habitat, plant phenology, or density separately, such that cumulative or interactive effects can rarely be considered. We investigated how spatial and annual variation in habitat composition, deer density, and vegetation productivity influenced white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) body condition during the breeding period. We detailed changes in body condition using several indices, including body mass, peroneus muscle mass, rump fat, kidney fat index, and antler size in>4,000 male and female deer of different ages harvested during September-December, 2002-2006 on Anticosti Island, Québec, Canada. Overall, females and yearlings harvested in fir forests were in poorer condition than those harvested in peatlands or spruce forests, whereas body condition of adult males was greater when open habitats were highly available. High deer density reduced autumn gains in fat, muscle mass, and body mass in males and yearlings, and in fat for females. Surprisingly, density positively affected the size of male antlers. High density at birth favored fat accumulation in adult females, suggesting strong selective pressure that removed low-quality individuals in early age at high deer density. Low Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in spring was associated with delayed but rapid spring green-up, and favored higher body condition in autumn. Reproduction affected most parameters of body condition; lactating females had less mass, fat, and muscle than non-lactating females, whereas mass and fat of males>4 years old steeply declined during the rut. Body mass and fat reserves showed a stronger response to density, habitat, NDVI, and reproduction than muscle mass. Body mass was a good integrating measure of fat and muscle mass, although allocation between muscle growth and energy storage was confounded. Our study highlighted the influence of environmental conditions on individual fat reserves, muscle mass, and body mass in autumn, with potential effects on reproduction and winter survival. Appropriate monitoring of body-condition indices in the fall can track the effect of environmental variables and management practices on animal populations.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 402
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Author: Timothy Edward Fulbright
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1648430570
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 254
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Book Description
In 2003, a cadre of researchers set out to determine what combination of supplemental or natural nutrition and white-tailed deer population density would produce the largest antlers on bucks without harming vegetation. They would come to call this combination “the sweet spot.” Over the course of their 15-year experiment, conducted through the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University–Kingsville, Timothy E. Fulbright, Charles A. DeYoung, David G. Hewitt, Don A. Draeger, and 25 graduate students tracked the effects of deer density and enhanced versus natural nutrition on vegetation conditions. Through wet years and dry, in a semiarid environment with frequent droughts, they observed deer nutrition and food habits and analyzed population dynamics. Containing the results of this landmark, longitudinal study, in keeping with the Kleberg Institute’s mission, this volume provides science-based information for enhancing the conservation and management of Texas wildlife. Advanced White-Tailed Deer Management: The Nutrition–Population Density Sweet Spot presents this critical research for the first time as a reference for hunters, landowners, wildlife managers, and all those who work closely with white-tailed deer populations. It explains the findings of the Comanche-Faith Project and the implications of these findings for white-tailed deer ecology and management throughout the range of the species with the goal of improving management.
Author: Mariah Slaughter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biology
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The prolonged overabundance of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) throughout the deciduous forests of eastern North America has resulted in widespread changes in the understory community. Studies have demonstrated that the exclusion of deer can allow some aspects of the understory to recover, but there are strong time-lags for deer-preferred species. Additionally, these exclosures only test the presence/absence of deer, which is not a feasible management option or desirable as deer are a part of the community. Here I evaluate how large-scale deer density manipulations within the Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative of Pennsylvania affected understory vegetation communities. Using data from six periodic intensive vegetation surveys I assessed multiple measures of understory response, from both woody and non-woody components of the understory, including potential time-lags in recovery. Most measures I used showed some recovery while deer densities were reduced, and negative responses to increasing deer density. Often recovery responses showed varied degrees of time-lag. Overall, these findings suggest that large-scale manipulations in deer density are a viable management plan to promote community recovery following long-term deer overabundance. However, the recovery process can quickly be reversed if deer density rises, so consistent management policies are required to see long-term change.
Author: Timothy E. Fulbright
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781603445658
Category : Range management
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
For most of the last century, range management meant managing land for livestock. How well a landowner grew the grass that cattle ate was the best measure of success. In this century, landowners look to hunting and wildlife viewing for income; rangeland is now also wildlife habitat, and they are managing their land not just for cattle but also for wildlife, most notably deer and quail. Unlike other books on white-tailed deer in places where rainfall is relatively high and the environment stable, this book takes an ecological approach to deer management in the semiarid lands of Oklahoma, Texas, and northern Mexico. These are the least productive of white-tail habitats, where periodic drought punctuates long-term weather patterns. The book's focus on this landscape across political borders is one of its original and lasting contributions. Another is its contention that good management is based on ecological principles that guide the manager's thinking about: Habitat Requirements of White-Tailed Deer White-Tailed Deer Nutrition Carrying Capacity Habitat Manipulation Predators Hunting Timothy Edward Fulbright is a Regents Professor and the Meadows Professor in Semiarid Land Ecology at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Kingsville. J. Alfonso Ortega-S., is an associate professor at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Author: William F. Porter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : White-tailed deer
Languages : en
Pages : 49
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Author: Timothy M. Kelley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 124
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Book Description
Author: Carolyn Hull Sieg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : White-tailed deer
Languages : en
Pages : 56
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