The impact of deer on lowland woodland invertebrates: a review of the evidence and priorities for future research

By A. Stewart. 2001

154 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Direct and indirect impacts of deer on invertebrates in lowland deciduous woodland are reviewed with particular reference to Britain. The evidence overwhelmingly indicates that deer grazing and browsing can have a very profound impact throughout the woodland ecosystem, including on invertebrates. Under certain circumstances, deer may be regarded as direct competitors with insect herbivores for plant biomass. However, more usually impacts will be indirect and mediated through changes in the structure, species composition and quality of the vegetation. The capacity of deer browsing activities to alter radically the species composition of the vegetation will have a major effect on the associated community of herbivorous insects. Whilst excessive deer densities will have detrimental effects on woodland biodiversity, including invertebrates, by inhibiting regeneration and removal of the understorey, some browsing will help to create and maintain open areas within woodland and arrest succession in rides and clearings. This will be beneficial for thermophilous insect species and those that require flowers for nectar and pollen. Evidence on how invertebrates respond to the regrowth foliage that is produced after deer damage remains equivocal but is an important question for future research. Deer also have a direct effect on the dung-associated invertebrate fauna that, in turn, provides an important food source at critical times of year for certain bird and bat species. Emphasis is placed on the importance of a multi-trophic approach in future studies of how deer interact with other components of the woodland ecosystem.

Subfields: Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8418ec6369c240e95dc3c0a2801d16f81c34fb11

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. T. Rooney
2. D. Waller
3. REBECCA J. Fuller
4. R. Gill
5. J. Benes
6. P. Green
7. M. Konvička
8. S. Takatsuki

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. T. Rooney
2. D. Waller
3. REBECCA J. Fuller
4. R. Gill
5. J. Benes
6. P. Green
7. M. Konvička
8. R. Beschta

Citations in the corpus

• Ecological impacts of increasing numbers of deer in British woodland (2001, background): “Nonetheless, the effects of deer grazing are expected to ripple across trophic levels in all forests; some of the possibilities are explored by Stewart (2001) who advocates a multi-trophic approach to future research on deer impacts.”
• Identifying threshold densities for wild deer in the UK above which negative impacts may occur (2011, background): “…and may affect populations of butterflies (Pollard & Cooke 1994, Petley-Jones 1995, Feber et al. 2001) or other invertebrates (Putman et al. 1989, Stewart 2001, Wallis De Vries et al. 2007), smaller mammals (Hill 1985, Flowerdew & Ellwood 2001), birds (e.g. Fuller 2001, Gill & Fuller 2007) and…”
• Does closure of traditionally managed open woodlands threaten epigeic invertebrates? Effects of coppicing and high deer densities (2008, background): “Presence of such structures increases the suitability of woodlands for wildlife (Stewart, 2001; Ewald et al., 2006), but too high game densities threaten more sensitive species (Chytry and Danihelka, 1993; Benes et al., 2006).”
• Intensive game keeping, coppicing and butterflies: The story of Milovicky Wood, Czech Republic (2006, background): “Therefore, it might be expected that game parks act as refuges for open woodland butterflies (Stewart, 2001).”
• Direct and indirect effects of white-tailed deer in forest ecosystems (2003, background): “Because ferns and graminoids have relatively few insect herbivores and provide no nectar or pollen resources, their increase could cause invertebrate species richness to decline (Stewart, 2001).”