Predicting intensity of white-tailed deer herbivory in the Central Appalachian Mountains

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dc.contributor.authorKniowski, Andrew B.en
dc.contributor.authorFord, W. Marken
dc.contributor.departmentFish and Wildlife Conservationen
dc.date.accessioned2020-07-10T12:37:36Zen
dc.date.available2020-07-10T12:37:36Zen
dc.date.issued2018-05en
dc.description.abstractIn eastern North America, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can have profound influences on forest biodiversity and forest successional processes. Moderate to high deer populations in the central Appalachians have resulted in lower forest biodiversity. Legacy effects in some areas persist even following deer population reductions or declines. This has prompted managers to consider deer population management goals in light of policies designed to support conservation of biodiversity and forest regeneration while continuing to support ample recreational hunting opportunities. However, despite known relationships between herbivory intensity and biodiversity impact, little information exists on the predictability of herbivory intensity across the varied and spatially diverse habitat conditions of the central Appalachians. We examined the predictability of browsing rates across central Appalachian landscapes at four environmental scales: vegetative community characteristics, physical environment, habitat configuration, and local human and deer population demographics. In an information-theoretic approach, we found that a model fitting the number of stems browsed relative to local vegetation characteristics received most (62%) of the overall support of all tested models assessing herbivory impact. Our data suggest that deer herbivory responded most predictably to differences in vegetation quantity and type. No other spatial factors or demographic factors consistently affected browsing intensity. Because herbivory, vegetation communities, and productivity vary spatially, we suggest that effective broad-scale herbivory impact assessment should include spatially-balanced vegetation monitoring that accounts for regional differences in deer forage preference. Effective monitoring is necessary to avoid biodiversity impacts and deleterious changes in vegetation community composition that are difficult to reverse and/or may not be detected using traditional deer-density based management goals.en
dc.description.adminPublic domain – authored by a U.S. government employeeen
dc.description.notesThis work was financially supported by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, Project WE99, Contract 2012-13694 to Virginia Tech.en
dc.description.sponsorshipWildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program [WE99, 2012-13694]en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-017-0476-6en
dc.identifier.eissn1993-0607en
dc.identifier.issn1007-662Xen
dc.identifier.issue3en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/99324en
dc.identifier.volume29en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedicationen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/en
dc.subjectBiodiversityen
dc.subjectCentral Appalachian Mountainsen
dc.subjectHerbivoryen
dc.subjectOdocoileus virginianusen
dc.subjectPredicting browsing intensityen
dc.subjectWhite-tailed deeren
dc.titlePredicting intensity of white-tailed deer herbivory in the Central Appalachian Mountainsen
dc.title.serialJournal of Forestry Researchen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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