Food selection by cervids is of high interest for forest management as they tend to browse on trees, causing severe damage and shifts in the regeneration capacity of certain preferred tree species. This behaviour could contradict forestry management strategies as deer may browse on target species, ...
white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) are generalist herbivores, they can have significant effects on species composition and abundance of forest trees, especially when deer densities are high and most plant species are heavily browsed but a few are selectively avoided as browse. We...
Deer rub up against tree bark to smooth out their growing antlers. But that process can wreck trees, especially the young, thin-barked species deer favor. Take, for example, Jean’s tree in Massachusetts. She planted a maple in the spring, and when she checked up on the tree in winter,...
Over the next 30 years, we noticed a strong increase in nitrophilous plant species frequen- cy and community composition shifted towards lightly browsed characteristics, accompanying a decrease in brows- ing pressure. Shifts in community composition were signifi- cantly correlated with the intensity...
However, composition of forest trees has changed dramatically in the eastern United States since 1900. In particular, browsing by high densities of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has resulted in forests dominated by browse-tolerant species, such as black cherry (Prunus serotina), and ...
Make it tough for deer to browse. Trim off lower branches of trees. No deer wants to waste time picking through your scare yard if there are lush bushes next door. Clean up your yard. Don’t leave acorns, rotted fruit, or leaves on your lawn; they are an open invitation to hungry ...
"If deer control tree regeneration, preferred tree species generally should decline relative to nonpreferred tree species," he said. "In Eastern forests with high deer densities, however, both decreasing and increasing tree species are favored browse for deer. Thus, deer densities do not explain ...
...To cope, white-tailed deer shift their diets from green plants to woody browse. They feed on twigs, buds and bark from trees and shrubs such as aspen, maple, birch, cedar and hemlock ...To make the most of their fat reserves, deer reduce their metabolic rate and overall activity....
The continuous decline of the browse supply confirmed our hypothesis. This situation may be exacerbated by a subsidy from the winter litterfall, a significant and stable alternative food source. The abundance of litterfall from mature trees is independent of browsing over a long time period, which ...
Screening of Odor and Taste Repellents for Control of White-tailed Deer Browse to Apples or Apple Shoots A rapid method was developed for evaluating deer repellents using apples or apple shoots were placed on 1 m (3.3 ft) stakes in a highly populated white-tai... R.E. Byers,D.H. Carb...