99th ESA Annual Meeting (August 10 -- 15, 2014)

99th ESA Annual Meeting (August 10 -- 15, 2014)

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http://eco.confex.com/eco/2014/webprogram/Paper48271.html

99th ESA Annual Meeting (August 10 -- 15, 2014)

COS 29Much ado about deer? 5-8 years of deer exclusion does not impact the understory plant community in temperate forests in northeastern Ohio Tuesday, August 12, 2014: 9:20 AM Regency Blrm F, Hyatt Regency Hotel Sheryl M. Petersen , The Holden Arboretum, Kirtland, OH Sandra L. Albro , Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland, OH Paul B. Drewa , Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH Mike Watson , The Holden Arboretum, Kirtland, OH David J. Burke , The Holden Arboretum, Kirtland, OH Background/Question/Methods In the eastern United States, changes in the abundance of herbivores, especially large ungulates, such as white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), can have large effects on forest plant community composition and regeneration. Although many studies have found that high deer populations negatively affect the survival and growth of tree seedlings and herbaceous plants, others have found that excluding deer alone does not result in recovery of plant communities. To assess whether the effect of deer varies across the landscape and by site within individual forests, we utilized an existing network of deer exclusion/access plots in temperate hardwood forests at The Holden Arboretum where the managed deer population density is approximately 8 deer/km2. One set of plots intensively sampled edge and interior zones at two sites within one sub-watershed using 40 plots randomly assigned to deer-access and deer-exclusion treatments in 2007. The other set examined forest interiors across three forest types in separate sub-watersheds using 22 paired deer-access/exclusion plots (44 sub-plots total) established between 2005 and 2007. In both studies, plots or sub-plots were 10 x 10-m in size, deer were excluded with ~2.5-m tall fences, and vegetation was sampled at exclosure establishment and periodically for up to eight years. Results/Conclusions After 5-8 years, no significant effects of deer exclusion were observed on tree regeneration and growth or herb abundance and diversity, regardless of the scale and design of the deer exclusion study. This is in dramatic contrast to other studies that have observed rapid plant community response to deer exclusion. However, edge environmental effects were detected in the intensive study. Further, herbaceous plant communities were impoverished (

Start Browse Browse by Day Author Index Meeting Information When: August 10 -- 15, 2014 Where: Sacramento, CA

5/27/2014 5:30 PM