[PDF] The Effects Of Supplemental Feeding On White Tailed Deer Behavior In Relation To Energetics And Reproductive Biology eBook

Author : Beau Navarre
Publisher :
Page : 30 pages
File Size : 32,96 MB
Release : 2021
Category :
ISBN :

GET BOOK

Supplemental feeding is commonly practiced to enhance available nutrition for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). The effects of supplemental feeding on the surrounding vegetative community may be related to herbivory, trampling, and seed dispersal. I evaluated how these potential mechanisms affect vegetative communities using a matched-pair design (fed and ecologically equivalent unfed sites) during 2018-2020. In a short-term manipulative portion of the study, I sampled the vegetation prior to feeding and during two years of feeding. In a long-term retrospective study, I sampled feeders established 5-7 years previously. Feeders increased daily detection rate of deer and seed dispersing non-target wildlife, percentage of browsed plants, bare ground, and seed deposition. Plant communities diverged increasingly more from year 1 through years 5-7. Supplemental feeding directly affects local understory plant communities due to increased herbivory and trampling, while seed dispersal by non-target wildlife and increased bare ground may facilitate invasion of non-desirable plant species.

Author : David G. Hewitt
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 668 pages
File Size : 48,42 MB
Release : 2011-06-24
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1482295989

GET BOOK

Winner of the Wildlife Society Outstanding Edited Book Award for 2013! Winner of the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society Outstanding Book Award for 2011! Winner of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2011! Biology and Management of White-tailed Deer organizes and presents information on the most studied large mammal species in the world. The book covers the evolutionary history of the species, its anatomy, physiology, and nutrition, population dynamics, and ecology across its vast range (from central Canada through northern South America). The book then discusses the history of management of white-tailed deer, beginning with early Native Americans and progressing through management by Europeans and examining population lows in the early 1900s, restocking efforts through the mid 1900s, and recent, overabundant populations that are becoming difficult to manage in many areas. Features: Co-published with the Quality Deer Management Association Compiles valuable information for white-tailed deer enthusiasts, managers, and biologists Written by an authoritative author team from diverse backgrounds Integrates white-tailed deer biology and management into a single volume Provides a thorough treatment of white-tailed deer antler biology Includes downloadable resources with color images The backbone of many state wildlife management agencies' policies and a featured hunting species through much of their range, white-tailed deer are an important species ecologically, socially, and scientifically in most areas of North America. Highly adaptable and now living in close proximity to humans in many areas, white-tailed deer are both the face of nature and the source of conflict with motorists, home-owners, and agricultural producers. Capturing the diverse aspects of white-tailed deer research, Biology and Management of White-tailed Deer is a reflection of the resources invested in the study of the species’ effects on ecosystems, predator-prey dynamics, population regulation, foraging behavior, and browser physiology.

Author : Timothy Edward Fulbright
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 17,5 MB
Release : 2023-03-31
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1648430570

GET BOOK

In 2003, a cadre of researchers set out to determine what combination of supplemental or natural nutrition and white-tailed deer population density would produce the largest antlers on bucks without harming vegetation. They would come to call this combination “the sweet spot.” Over the course of their 15-year experiment, conducted through the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University–Kingsville, Timothy E. Fulbright, Charles A. DeYoung, David G. Hewitt, Don A. Draeger, and 25 graduate students tracked the effects of deer density and enhanced versus natural nutrition on vegetation conditions. Through wet years and dry, in a semiarid environment with frequent droughts, they observed deer nutrition and food habits and analyzed population dynamics. Containing the results of this landmark, longitudinal study, in keeping with the Kleberg Institute’s mission, this volume provides science-based information for enhancing the conservation and management of Texas wildlife. Advanced White-Tailed Deer Management: The Nutrition–Population Density Sweet Spot presents this critical research for the first time as a reference for hunters, landowners, wildlife managers, and all those who work closely with white-tailed deer populations. It explains the findings of the Comanche-Faith Project and the implications of these findings for white-tailed deer ecology and management throughout the range of the species with the goal of improving management.