Factor of Plant Growth in Relation to Feces of Korean Water Deer and Land Use Patterns

Abstract

Feces contain nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate, potassium and research of the impact on the environment from feces is very diverse. However, despite the importance of mammals to environment, studies of mammals into the terrestrial ecosystems are rare. Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is an endemic species of Korea and China, and we conducted on factor of plant growth in relation to feces of Korean water deer depending on land use patterns. The analysis of growth, biomass and C/N ratio of Zea mays, amount of feces and land use patterns are strongly affecting the C/N ratio and growth of the Zea mays. The quantity of the feces also influences the growth of plants instead of the land use patterns. Furthermore, the feces of Korean water deer have a lower C/N ratio than that of other animals' feces. Being the process of composting, it is able to serve a suitable fertilizer for a crop growth. In this study, we investigated the impact of feces into the environment in the terrestrial ecosystems and we were able to provide the basic data to the resources of an efficient scheme of animal feces. Further research is needed to quantify the materials amongst the plant, soil and animal, and to understand the relationship ecosystem.

Seed recovery and germination rate after gut passage by Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus)

“…N and P) for their growth compared to the substrate of vermiculite or sand-compost (Traveset et al, 2001; Mancilla-Leytón et al, 2012; Milotić and Hoffmann, 2016b). A study reported that the faeces of Korean water deer likely act as a fertilizer by providing nutrition for the growth of Zea mays (Park and Lee, 2014). This can relate to the potential advantage of endozoochorously dispersed seeds by deer.…”