▪ Abstract Deer have expanded their range and increased dramatically in abundance worldwide in recent decades. They inflict major economic losses in forestry, agriculture, and transportation and contribute to the transmission of several animal and human diseases. Their impact on natural ecosystems is also dramatic but less quantified. By foraging selectively, deer affect the growth and survival of many herb, shrub, and tree species, modifying patterns of relative abundance and vegetation dynamics. Cascading effects on other species extend to insects, birds, and other mammals. In forests, sustained overbrowsing reduces plant cover and diversity, alters nutrient and carbon cycling, and redirects succession to shift future overstory composition. Many of these simplified alternative states appear to be stable and difficult to reverse. Given the influence of deer on other organisms and natural processes, ecologists should actively participate in efforts to understand, monitor, and reduce the impact of deer on ...

https://www.kora.ch/malme/05_library/5_1_publications/C/Cote_et_al_2004_Ecological_impacts_of_deer_overabundance.pdf

Ecological Impacts of Deer Overabundance

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2005_hessburg002.pdf

Dry forests and wildland fires of the inland Northwest USA: Contrasting the landscape ecology of the pre-settlement and modern eras

Recent declines in numbers and juvenile recruitment in many elk (Cervus elaphus) herds in the western U.S. has sparked interest in factors that may cause these declines. Inadequate nutrition or delayed parturition, the latter of which may be caused by inadequate numbers of mature bulls (i.e., highly skewed sex ratios), may have separate or synergistic effects on population dynamics and productivity. We evaluated the implications of late parturition and summer-autumn nutrition on reproduction and survival of Rocky Mountain elk (C. e. nelsoni) using a captive herd of 57 cow elk.



We induced early (Sep) and late breeding (Oct) and 3 levels of summer-autumn nutrition on the cows. Food was offered ad libitum at 3 levels of digestible energy (DE): high = 2.9-3.0 kcal of DE/g of diets, medium = 2.6-3.0 kcal/g, and low = 2.3-3.0 kcal/g. Within these ranges, DE content was gradually reduced from late June through early November to mimic seasonal changes in the wild. During summer and autumn, we measured calf growth; body mass, nutritional condition, and breeding dynamics of cows; and growth and pregnancy of yearlings. We also measured carry-over (i.e., time-lag) responses including over-winter calf and cow survival and parturition date and birth mass, as functions of previous summer-autumn nutrition and previous parturition date. Between autumn 1995 and spring 1998, we conducted 2 years of parturition-date, summer-autumn nutrition experiments, 2 winters of calf survival experiments, and 1 winter of cow survival experiments.



Early birth provided calves with more time to grow before onset of winter. This “head-start” advantage was maintained through late autumn, but its magnitude was diluted in some instances due to faster growth of some late-born calves. Body mass, body fat, and timing and probability of conception by cows in autumn were little influenced by parturition date the previous spring.



Summer-autumn nutrition significantly affected calves and their mothers. Growth of calves in the low and medium nutrition groups ceased by mid-September and late October. By December, calves in the high nutrition group were 40% and 70% heavier than calves in the medium and low groups, respectively. Cows in the high nutrition group accumulated about 75% and 300% more fat than cows in the medium and low groups by mid-October. Eighty percent of cows in the low nutrition group failed to conceive, and those in the medium group bred 10–14 days later than cows in the high group. Summer-autumn nutrition of calves influenced their probability of becoming pregnant as yearlings. Probability of pregnancy approached 100% for those yearlings that had high summerautumn nutrition as calves and yearlings, despite near starvation their first winter of life.



Winter survival of calves was related to their size at the onset of winter. Smaller calves lost more body mass daily than did large calves, and thus they survived fewer days through winter. Summer-autumn nutrition largely determined calf body size at the start of winter and, consequently, determined the proportion of winter survived. Survival of cows over winter was as related to body fat at the onset of winter as it was to nutrition during winter.



Carry-over effects of summer-autumn nutrition and parturition date on birth characteristics the following spring were minor. We detected no significant carry-over effect of summer-autumn nutrition or autumn condition on birth mass, although reduced condition in autumn delayed subsequent parturition date. Extent of body fat depletion in cows during the winter-survival experiments in 1998 accounted for 45% of the variation in parturition date. Ninety percent depletion delayed parturition an average of 34 days.



Delayed parturition, of a magnitude expected due to highly skewed sex ratios (3 weeks under extreme conditions), probably has only a weak influence on vital rates of free-ranging elk. In contrast, fat accretion and probability of pregnancy of cows, and growth and overwinter survival of calves, were sensitive to small (10–20%) differences in DE content of food. Digestible energy levels of our 2 lower nutrition levels reflect DE ranges reported for large ungulate herds during summer and autumn in western North America. Thus, our data suggest that limiting effects of summer-autumn nutrition on populations may be greater than often assumed, perhaps greater than those during winter in some ecosystems, and consequently indicate a need for greater understanding of nutrition's influence on population dynamics and how this influence varies across space and time. To enhance future research, we present animal- and vegetation-based guidelines for evaluating nutritional influences on elk populations.

/pdf/effects-of-summer-autumn-nutrition-and-parturition-date-on-fm1o396v4a.pdf

Effects of summer‐autumn nutrition and parturition date on reproduction and survival of elk

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/starkey/publications/pdf/Vavra,%20Parks,%20Wisdom_Biodiversity-Herbivory_07_For.Ecol.&Mgmt.pdf

Biodiversity, exotic plant species, and herbivory: The good, the bad, and the ungulate

We examined movements and habitat use by female Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) using a large telemetry data set collected over 6 years at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range in northeastern Oregon. The analysis contrasted hourly movements of elk and deer within the mosaic of vegetation and landforms at Starkey with daily and seasonal demands for forage, security, and other resources. Telemetry data from 15 April to 14 November, 1991–1996, were stratified into 30-day intervals and tested for daily cycles relative to habitat use and movements. Both elk and deer exhibited strong daily and seasonal patterns of movements and habitat use. Daily cycles were most pronounced during spring and autumn, were composed of crepuscular and intraday habitat transitions, and were more pronounced for elk than for deer. Although crepuscular transitions were accompanied by sharp increases in velocity, intraday changes in habitat were not. The results add considerable det...

https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Mammalogy/volume-84/issue-3/BBa-020/DAILY-AND-SEASONAL-MOVEMENTS-AND-HABITAT-USE-BY-FEMALE-ROCKY/10.1644/BBa-020.pdf

Daily and seasonal movements and habitat use by female rocky mountain elk and mule deer

Riggs, Robert. A.; Tiedemann, Arthur R.; Cook, John G.; Ballard, Teena M.; Edgerton, Paul J.; Vavra, Martin; Krueger, William C.; Hall, Frederick C.; Bryant, Larry D.; Irwin, Larry L.; and Delcurto, Timothy. 2000. Modification of mixed-conifer forests by ruminant herbivores in the Blue Mountains ecological province. Res. Pap. PNW-RP-527. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 77 p. Secondary plant succession and the accumulation of biomass and nutrients were documented at seven ruminant exclosures in Abies and Pseudotsuga forests variously disturbed by logging, burning, and grass seeding. Long-term (25 or more years) foraging by Rocky Mountain mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) suppressed the development of deciduous shrubs. Ruminant herbivores influenced vegetation to extents equal to those of the initial episodic disturbances. Food preferences of elk were linearly correlated with longterm development of plant taxa. Accumulations of understory and forest floor biomasses were greater inside exclosures than outside. Accumulations of nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and potassium were greater inside exclosures than outside.

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp527.pdf

Modification of Mixed-Conifer Forests by Ruminant Herbivores in the Blue Mountains Ecological Province

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr362.pdf

Herbaceous stubble height as a warning of impending cattle grazing damage to riparian areas.

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr363.pdf

Definitions and codes for seral status and structure of vegetation.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Frederick C. Hall

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Modification of Mixed-Conifer Forests by Ruminant Herbivores in the Blue Mountains Ecological Province

Herbaceous stubble height as a warning of impending cattle grazing damage to riparian areas.

Definitions and codes for seral status and structure of vegetation.