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Abundant artificial grasslands around forests increase the deer impact on forest vegetation

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Abstract

Recent research suggests that deer impact on forest vegetation differs according to the surrounding landscape composition. However, there is no consistent trend on how food-rich habitat affects deer browsing impact on forest vegetation. The study took place in Yatsugatake region (Japan) where forests dominate, there are many artificial grasslands with various size, and large crop fields exist around urban area. We examined whether (1) the surrounding abundant alternative food (in this study, artificial grasslands) in forests increases deer density and (2) the high deer density affects forest vegetation more seriously. We evaluated the coverage of understory vegetation and the occurrence of debarking on standing trees. This study demonstrated that the abundant surrounding artificial grasslands increased deer density in forests. High deer density impacted forest vegetation negatively. Pellet group number was significantly higher in forests with high percentage of artificial grassland area and low percentage of crop field area. It was also higher in evergreen forests compared with other forest types. The coverage of understory vegetation was significantly reduced on the plots where many pellet groups were found. The occurrence of debarking on standing trees was significantly higher on the plots where many pellet groups were found than on plots with less pellets. In conclusion, abundance food-rich habitat around forests increases deer density in forests, which leads to a stronger impact of deer on forest vegetation.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate all members of the Laboratory of Silviculture and Nature Conservation of University of Tsukuba, especially H. Hagata and the staff of Yatsugatake Experimental forest of University of Tsukuba, Yatsugatake prefectural farmland of Yamanashi and Keep farmland for field survey assistance. We also appreciate H. Windley for English check of our manuscript. We followed the authorship according to International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html, May 16, 2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Silviculture and Nature Conservation, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Kanoko Takarabe

  2. Laboratory of Wildlife Biology, Department of Forest Science, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8587, Japan

    Hayato Iijima

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  1. Kanoko Takarabe
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Correspondence to Kanoko Takarabe.

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Communicated by Christian Ammer.

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Takarabe, K., Iijima, H. Abundant artificial grasslands around forests increase the deer impact on forest vegetation. Eur J Forest Res 139, 473–482 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-020-01262-y

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