Spring and Summer Foods of Deer in the Missouri Ozarks

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 165.95.226.100 on Thu, 08 Oct 2015 21:34:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Abstract: A 3-year investigation was conducted to ascertain the principal spring and summer foods of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the forested Ozark Region of southern Missouri. Rumen samples from April through September 1973-75 were obtained from highway, illegal, and accidentally killed animals. In 304 samples, 458 plant foods were identified, 26 of which exceeded 1.0% by volume; these together comprised nearly 60% of all food. Another 26 items amounted to 0.5 to 0.9% each and comprised an additional 17.0%. Season-long, the 6 principal genera were Vitis, Trifolium, Lespedeza, Ulmus, Rhus, and Lactuca. Woody plants contributed 47.6% of all foods, broad-leaved herbaceous plants 44.3%, and grass and grasslike species accounted for 2.4% of April through September diets. Great variation in primary foods was shown by month and season. Results of the study will serve as a guideline for future deer habitat improvement in Ozark forests. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 44(1):89-97 SThis study was financed in part by Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, Missouri Project W-13-R.

Variables Influencing Food Habits of White-Tailed Deer on the George Reserve

“…In this study different methods of analysis gave variable results, as previously reported (Korschgen et al, 1980;Rogers et al, 1981; and others). None of the methods is unbiased, and none can be safely assumed to represent the actual diet consumed by the animal.…”

Summer Diet of Two White-tailed Deer, <em>Odocoileus virginianus</em>, Populations Living at Low and High Density in Southern Québec

“…Mushrooms were consumed mostly in spring in HD and in fall in LD, which may be explained by different seasonal availability or by the possibility that White-tailed Deer feed on them when preferred foods are rare at both ends of the growing season. Many studies reported large amounts of mushrooms in White-tailed Deer diet (Crawford 1982;Johnson et al 1995;Korschgen et al 1980;McCaffery et al 1974), but nobody has yet considered the potential impact of deer herbivory on mushrooms.…”

“…Food items which dominated in LD diets remained almost absent from HD rumens. For instance Liliacae, such as Yellow Clintonia and Wild-Lily-of-the-Valley, which White-tailed Deer normally consume in the Northeast (Crawford 1982;Korschgen et al 1980;McCaffery et al 1974;Skinner and Telfer 1974;Waller and Alverson 1997) occupied a marginal volume in HD rumens. Liliacae are particularly vulnerable to deer browsing Waller and Alverson 1997) and can be used as indicators to estimate the impact of White-tailed Deer on plant communities (Balgooyen and Waller 1995).…”

“…White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus, are selective feeders and although they ingest a wide variety of plants, only a few taxa make up large proportions of their diet (Johnson et al 1995;Healy 1971;Korschgen et al 1980;McCaffery et al 1974). Plant phenology influences their diet; forbs and leaves of deciduous woody plants are common food items in spring and summer, and fruits become major components of the autumn diet.…”

“…Plant phenology influences their diet; forbs and leaves of deciduous woody plants are common food items in spring and summer, and fruits become major components of the autumn diet. White-tailed Deer also consume mushrooms in natural ecosystems (Crawford 1982;Johnson et al 1995;Korschgen et al 1980;Short 1971;Skinner and Telfer 1974), whereas farm crops can be major food sources in agricultural landscapes (Nixon et al 1991). During winter, White-tailed Deer switch to twigs of both deciduous and evergreen woody plants and, where snow cover allows access, they also use grasses and farm crops left after harvest (Johnson et al 1995;McCaffery et al 1974;McCullough 1985;Nixon et al 1991;Skinner and Telfer 1974).…”