Do white-tailed deer and the exotic plant garlic mustard interact to affect the growth and persistence of native forest plants?

Waller, Donald M.; Maas, Lisa I.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2013.05.011

Cited by 44 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…We interpret these changes as caused by interspecific competition with the increasing native vegetation cover, an interpretation consistent with previous studies that have shown that heavy browsing by introduced or native herbivores often has a positive effect on the abundance and distribution of introduced plants (e.g. Eschtruth & Battles, ; Waller & Maas, ). This also supports the invasion meltdown theory (Simberloff & Von Holle, ) which proposes that introduced species have positive interactions facilitating their common invasion.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Positive plant and bird diversity response to experimental deer population reduction after decades of uncontrolled browsing

Chollet

Padié

Stockton

et al. 2015

Diversity and Distributions

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International audienceAim During the 20th century, deer (family Cervidae), both native and introduced populations, dramatically increased in abundance in many parts of the world and became seen as major threats to biodiversity in forest ecosystems. Here, we evaluated the consequences that restoring top-down herbivore population control has on plants and birds.Location Forest ecosystems of Haida Gwaii (British Columbia, Canada) where introduced black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) have dramatically limited tree regeneration and simplified understorey plant, insect and bird assemblages.Methods We experimentally assessed ecosystem-wide responses of plant and bird communities to a ~80% reduction of deer abundance on two mediumsized islands (146 and 249 ha). We monitored changes in plant and bird communities for the 13 years following the start of culling and used two islands without culling and a set of exclosures as controls. Results Native plant communities increased in cover and richness after culling, while introduced plants decreased. Birds that depend on understorey vegetation for feeding and/or breeding increased significantly after deer were reduced in abundance but species not dependent on understorey vegetation did not. Finally, on control islands, plant and bird communities were stable or declined throughout the study period.Main conclusions Biodiversity losses caused by current continental-scale trends of increasing deer populations are potentially reversible. We demonstrate that controlling large herbivore populations (native or introduced) offers significant conservation benefits to forest understorey plant communities, even to those most negatively affected by uncontrolled browsing. We also report, for the first time, strong evidence that higher trophic levels (birds) can respond rapidly and positively to herbivore density control

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Positive plant and bird diversity response to experimental deer population reduction after decades of uncontrolled browsing

Chollet

Padié

Stockton

et al. 2015

Diversity and Distributions

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show abstract

“…Target non-natives are also positively associated with earthworms (Nuzzo et al, 2009;Whitfeld et al, 2014) and, in fact, rarely occur at high densities at sites with low earthworm abundance (personal observation). Considering that these stressors co-occur and that mounting evidence indicates that populations and impacts of invasive plants, earthworms and deer are characterized by complex non-additive interactions (Waller and Maas, 2013;Dávalos et al, 2014;Flory and Bauer, 2014) it is paramount to quantify their combined effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single and interactive effects of deer and earthworms on non-native plants

Dávalos

Nuzzo²,

Blossey

2015

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…ferns or grasses) are, in general, expected to benefit as the impacts from browsing increase via competitive release (Wiegmann and Waller , Rooney ). Despite positive effects seen for some species, deer impacts can be large enough to alter the abiotic environment and negate competitive release (Wiegmann and Waller , Waller and Maas ). Plant populations that experience the stressful, low‐resource environments like those generated by herbivore‐driven indirect effects are expected to exhibit reduced growth rate and biomass accumulation (Chapin et al ) and face constraints on allocation among important plant life history functions (Stearns and Koella , Weiner et al ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Life history trait divergence among populations of a non‐palatable species reveals strong non‐trophic indirect effects of an abundant herbivore

Heckel

Kalisz

2016

Oikos

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When large herbivores exert selection on their prey plant species, co‐occurring, non‐prey species may experience selection through non‐trophic indirect effects. Such selection is likely common where herbivores are overabundant. Yet, empirical studies of non‐trophic indirect effects as drivers of non‐prey trait evolution are lacking. Here we test for adaptive shifts in life history traits in an unpalatable species, Arisaema triphyllum, a common forest perennial that is unique because it exhibits size‐dependent sex switching. We collected A. triphyllum from six sites that experience a gradient in abiotic stress caused by deer browse pressure on prey plant species that generate indirect effects. We grew A. triphyllum from these sites in a common garden for five years to evaluate life history predictions linking strong indirect effects and abiotic stress to changes in life history traits: flowering onset size threshold, female flowering size threshold, relative growth rate (RGR), biomass allocation, and asexual reproduction. Despite observed differences among phenotypes in the field, expression of flowering onset size threshold, biomass allocation, and asexual reproduction did not differ among the six populations in the garden, indicating common plastic responses. In contrast, A. triphyllum collected from sites experiencing the two highest deer impacts exhibited smaller female flowering size thresholds and the highest RGR. Responses in these traits support the predictions of adaptive divergence in response to indirect effects. Our results reinforce the idea that non‐trophic indirect effects of large herbivores can elicit evolutionary responses in some traits of non‐prey species. In general, life history traits of unpalatable species may be cryptically adapting to stressful indirect effects where large herbivores are overabundant.

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Do white-tailed deer and the exotic plant garlic mustard interact to affect the growth and persistence of native forest plants?

Cited by 44 publications

References 34 publications

Positive plant and bird diversity response to experimental deer population reduction after decades of uncontrolled browsing

Positive plant and bird diversity response to experimental deer population reduction after decades of uncontrolled browsing

Single and interactive effects of deer and earthworms on non-native plants

Life history trait divergence among populations of a non‐palatable species reveals strong non‐trophic indirect effects of an abundant herbivore

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