Deer can be too many, too few, or just enough for healthy forests March 31, 2012 NRS Research Review, No. 16, Spring 2012 

 ... they found that deer population levels at or below 20 per square mile allowed undergrowth to recover. The study surprised scientists, though, when there was some regrowth even at very high deer densities.... when deer populations were reduced to just-right densities (from about 28 to about 15 deer per square mile in that particular landscape) populations of wildflower indicator species such as trilliums and Canada mayflower started to recover ... one species of small tree/shrub, pin cherry, that had become overabundant at the lowest levels of deer density (10 per square mile in that study). They soon realized that this phenomenon was early evidence of such a thing as too few deer. Pin cherry, a shrubby cousin of black cherry (a desirable lumber tree), can outcompete other species when highly abundant...

Maybe deer aren't the forest-killers we thought they were October 6, 2020 Concord Monitor

... A report from the U.S. Forest Service (read it here) says: ... using current tree surveys and historical records they examined trends in tree species preferred by deer. Researchers found white-tail deer have not reduced tree densities at landscape scales across the Eastern U.S. In fact, they propose other management influences and fire exclusion have had bigger impacts...

Plant Richness Increases with Surrounding Habitat and Management Burns over 30-years in Suburban Forest Understories - Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2023

... Many depend on herbivory by white-tailed deer (Odoceilus virginianus) to disperse propagules over long-distances (Matlack, 1994, Myers et al., 2004, Vellend et al., 2006). White-tailed deer are expected to be especially important dispersers in fragmented landscapes; without deer, most forest herbs could only disperse a few meters from the parent plant and would be unable to recruit into a neighboring forested area (Matlack, 1994, Cain et al., 1998, Myers et al., 2004). In suburban landscapes, deer may be even more critical, as urbanization shifts the primary driver of diversity from local micro-environmental conditions in the understory to landscape factors that limit recruitment by reducing the availability of propagules (Rogers et al. 2009)...

Cumulative effects of chronic deer browsing and clear-cutting on regeneration processes in second-growth white spruce stands M Barrette, L Bélanger, L De Grandpré, JC Ruel - Forest Ecology and Management, 2014

.. the cumulative effect of chronic deer browsing and recent clear-cutting on regeneration processes of mature second-growth white spruce stands has not yet been evaluated. ... Our results indicate regeneration failure in both ecosystems, which can be explained by a lack of suitable rotten logs for sufficient establishment of white spruce seedlings... We propose shelterwood cuttings that create nurse logs should be investigated to maintain white spruce stands without planting...

Impact of ungulate exclusion on understorey succession in relation to forest management in the Intermountain Western United States, Oregon, BK Pekin, BA Endress, MJ Wisdom, BJ Naylor… - Applied Vegetation Science, 2014

...  managed sites displayed more early succession species, such as annual forbs and annual graminoids, while unmanaged sites were dominated by late-succession species such as shrubs, subshrubs and trees. Species richness, particularly of annuals, was strongly reduced when ungulates were excluded from managed sites, and to a lesser extent from unmanaged sites for some perennial plant species. Species diversity decreased to a slightly greater extent with ungulate exclusion at managed sites. Species dominance was not influenced by ungulate exclusion....

Deer‐mediated ecosystem service versus disservice depends on forest management intensity  TD Stokely, MG Betts - Journal of Applied Ecology, 2019

... Overall, our findings indicate that the effects of vegetation management for promoting timber production are highly dependent on the presence of large herbivores... Although deer are thought to reduce crop productivity in many systems, we found that herbivory switched from reducing crop‐tree growth where non‐crop vegetation was retained, to promoting crop‐tree growth when both herbivory and herbicides suppressed competing vegetation...

Overabundant ungulates in French Sologne? Increasing red deer and wild boar pressure may not threaten woodland birds in mature forest stands  M Baltzinger, A Mårell, F Archaux, T Pérot, F Leterme… - Basic and Applied Ecology, 2016

... Generally, increasing deer browsing pressure did not have any negative effect on woodland birds in mature forest stands with a developed canopy, and did not result in lower shrub cover. Most previous studies documenting a negative effect of browsing on birds focused on young forest stands where overstory vegetation was scarce. Our results suggest that the impact of ungulate pressure on forest birds may decrease with forest stand age...

Does hunting threaten timber regeneration in selectively logged tropical forests?

C Rosin - Forest Ecology and Management, 2014

...  Vertebrate seed dispersers are often heavily hunted, resulting in reduced seed movement for many species and a shift in community composition to favor those plants dispersed by small animals and abiotic means. Timber species with large seeds and fleshy fruit are at particular risk for dispersal and recruitment failure. Hunting also alters granivore communities, resulting in increased predation on species favored by insects and small rodents, and changing the spatial template of seed predation, with detrimental effects on many timber species. Large vertebrate herbivores decline with hunting pressure, resulting in the modification of plant competitive interactions. This is disadvantageous to several traits that are common among timber trees, including relatively slow growth and high wood density...

Eaten but not always beaten: winners and losers along a red deer herbivory gradient in boreal forest  SJ Hegland, K Rydgren - Journal of Vegetation Science, 2015

... Twelve taxa had optima at zero to low herbivory intensity (losers), while 25 species had optima at intermediate to high herbivory intensity (winners), with most species peaking at intermediate intensity. The growth forms young trees and dwarf shrubs were losers, and ferns, forbs, bryophytes and juvenile trees were winners. At the functional trait level, woody species were the only losers, whereas clonal, prostrate and non-palatable species were more abundant towards the high end of the herbivory gradient...

White‐tailed deer as the last megafauna dispersing seeds in Neotropical dry forests: the role of fruit and seed traits  A Jara‐Guerrero, G Escribano‐Avila, CI Espinosa… - Biotropica, 2017

...  the removal of fruit pulp resulting from ingestion by white-tailed deer could have a deinhibition effect on germination due to seed release. Thus, white-tailed deer play an important role as legitimate seed dispersers of woody species formerly considered autochorous ...

Chronic wasting disease, climate change will affect deer hunting, and that's not good news for the environment December 1, 2019 Pennsylvania, LancasterOnline

... the right balance of deer tends to actually increase the carrying capacity (the maximum number the environment can support without detrimental effects) of the landscape. The study found that in West Virginia, where deer levels were found to be lower than the carrying capacity of the landscape, a mix of deer, ground fire and canopy gaps increased diversity compared to enclosures where deer were excluded entirely from reaching the forest..,

Highstead Foundation: Getting data on your backyard eco-system September 1, 2015 Connecticut, The Redding Pilot

... Just beside the Redding Country Club ...  a focus on long-term ecological studies .... one on deer impact that has been running for 17 years... Some exotic species benefit from deer browsing and some do not. Japanese barberry does better in areas where deer can graze, but burning bush and oriental bittersweet do better protected... , there is greater diversity of native shrubs inside a deer exclosure... greater diversity of native herbs outside the deer exclosures...

Direct and indirect effects of white-tailed deer in forest ecosystems,  Forest Ecology and Management Volume 181, Issues 1–2, 3 August 2003, Pages 165–176

Thomas P Rooney, , Donald M Waller

As reported in Figure 2, the density of yellow birch seedlings measured in the forest ecosystem fell off dramatically when the deer density fell much below 18 deer per square mile (about 7 deer per square km) or when deer density was much above about 44 deer per square mile (about 17 deer per square km).

The Northern White-Cedar Recruitment Bottleneck: Understanding the Effects of Substrate, Competition, and Deer Browsing  LF Reuling, CC Kern, LS Kenefic, DR Bronson - Forests, 2019

... Results: None of the measures of deer browsing used in this study were found to be associated with white-cedar regeneration. Soil pH, competition from other seedlings and saplings, and stem density of white-cedar in the overstory were found to be potentially associated with white-cedar regeneration. Conclusions: While browsing by deer is likely a factor affecting white-cedar regeneration in many areas, this study highlights the challenge of quantifying deer browse effects, as well as showing that other factors likely contribute to the difficulty of regenerating white-cedar ...

Changes in spatial patterns of sika deer distribution and herbivory of planted seedlings: a comparison before and after deer population control by culling

T Enoki, T Yabe, T Koizumi - Journal of Forest Research, 2015 Japan

... During the year when culling was conducted, the number of sika deer caught on camera decreased around the center of the study site where the culling was conducted and the number of browsed seedlings decreased. During the year following culling, the cumulative number of browsed seedlings was very similar to that in the year before the culling, while the same low number of sika deer was caught on camera. These results indicate that the effects of deer culling resulted in decreased levels of sika deer appearance and browse damage for more than 1 year and for several months, respectively.

As It Turns Out, Deer Munching on Plants is Good for the EnvironmentApril 11, 2014 Maryland, Care2.com

... The latest study, published this month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B ... The researchers, a team from the Smithsonian, chose a Maryland forest as their setting and planted 140 3x3 plots of saplings ... After three years, the researchers discovered that the plots with higher diversity were the ones the deer had grazed. The researchers believe that the deer acted, in a sense, as instinctual gardeners...

Optimum density of sika deer for tree seedling survival  H Itô, T Hino, H Takahashi - The Journal of Wildlife Management, 2014

... We estimated optimum deer density was 9.5 deer/km2 (24.6 deer per square mile) when floor leaf biomass of the dwarf bamboo was 0.15 kg/m2.... These results suggested that in this system, managing deer density at moderate levels might be more effective from a forest regeneration perspective than the complete exclusion of deer...

Adjacency to a harvest trail increases drought resistance of interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) in partially harvested stands in central British Columbia NP Thompson, KJ Lewis, L Poirier - Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2018

... Trees are often clustered in interior Douglas-fir forests near the grassland interface in central British Columbia due to past harvesting practices or habitat management for mule deer... Edge trees had intermediate growth rates but no differences were found in the long-term climate/growth relationship compared to open growing trees. Both Edge and Open classes showed less relative growth reduction during droughts than Interior trees growing between harvest trails...

Landscape-scale vegetation patterns influence small-scale grazing impacts EK Moore, AJ Britton, G Iason, J Pemberton… - Biological Conservation, 2015

... Understanding the distribution of herbivory is of great importance to planning the conservation management of plant communities. Control of wild and domestic large herbivore populations at large scales is commonly used to manipulate their impacts. However, the relationship between large scale population density and local impacts is often weak as the spatial layout of plant communities, and the herbivores' preferences for them, can drive the herbivores' habitat use... Herbivore density was only weakly correlated to grazing impacts...

Introduced deer at low densities do not inhibit the regeneration of a dominant tree

PJ Bellingham, SJ Richardson, NWH Mason… - … Ecology and Management, 2016

... Deer have been introduced to forests worldwide as non-native invasive species. Red deer (Cervus elaphus scoticus) were introduced to New Zealand in 1851, became abundant throughout its forests, then their populations declined to current, typically low densities... We conclude that red deer, at current low densities, affect the regeneration of the dominant canopy tree of these forests slightly, but at levels that are unlikely to prevent canopy replacement...

Restoration of central Texas savanna and woodland: the effects of fire, deer, and invasive species on plant community trajectories CM Andruk - 2014

... deer can indirectly benefit hardwoods by reducing competition with palatable forbs (ch. 3). In general, these results show that fire suppression in central Texas oak-dominated woodlands is causing a shift not to more mesic-adapted species, as observed in the eastern US, but to J. ashei, which is at least as xeric-adapted as oak, a process I termed 'juniperization'.

As It Turns Out, Deer Munching on Plants is Good for the Environment April 11, 2014 Maryland, Care2.com

... The latest study, published this month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B ... The researchers, a team from the Smithsonian, chose a Maryland forest as their setting and planted 140 3x3 plots of saplings ... After three years, the researchers discovered that the plots with higher diversity were the ones the deer had grazed. The researchers believe that the deer acted, in a sense, as instinctual gardeners...

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) positively affect the growth of mature northern red oak (Quercus rubra) trees RW Lucas, R Salguero-Gómez, DB Cobb, BG Waring… - Ecosphere, 2013

.... Our findings highlight the indirect effects of white-tailed deer on the growth of adult individuals of Q. rubra in a way opposite of what would be expected from previous studies based on immature or understory tree populations. We suggest the increased growth of adult trees in the presence of deer may be explained by increased nutrient inputs through deer fecal and urine deposits and the alteration of the competitive environment belowground through the reduction of understory vegetation by browsing. Underscoring the ecological and demographic importance of adult trees in forest ecosystems, results from this study suggest the direct and indirect effects of deer on mature trees should not be overlooked.

Indirect Effects of a Keystone Herbivore Elevate Local Animal Diversity, KATHERINE R. GREENWALD,*, LISA J. PETIT, THOMAS A. WAITE The Journal of Wildlife Management Volume 72, Issue 6, pages 1318–1321, August 2008

     Abstract: We quantified indirect effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on ground-dwelling herpetofauna and invertebrates in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio, USA. We placed cover boards at 12 sites, each consisting of a 10 × 10-m fenced (exclosure) plot and an unfenced (control) plot. Periodically, during May-December 2004 and May-September 2005, we counted salamanders, snakes, and a variety of invertebrate taxa. Salamander, snake, and gastropod abundance as well as invertebrate richness (no. of species or higher level taxa) were higher in control than exclosure plots. Our findings suggest that management actions taken to regulate deer densities could have the unintended effect of reducing local animal diversity.

Appropriate vegetation indices for measuring the impacts of deer on forest ecosystems H Iijima, T Nagaike - Ecological Indicators, 2014

... Overall, we predict that debarking of small trees living in heavy snow areas should occur even at low deer densities (<10 deer/km2). Browsing on dwarf bamboo should occur at intermediate deer densities (10–30 deer/km2), while debarking of thick trees living in low snow areas should occur only at high deer densities (≥30 deer/km2). Our study shows that debarking and browsing on understory vegetation are appropriate indices for evaluating deer impacts on forest ecosystems, but that tree size, snow depth, and the type of understory vegetation should also be considered...

Some plants evolve tolerance to deer December 4, 2014 New York, Cornell Chronicle 

... An experiment with 26 populations of orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), a common wetland native plant, found that historically browsed populations tolerated being eaten by deer far better than historically protected plant populations...

Effects of wildlife management in national parks on its populations - Where to go?  Dominik Dachs, Research in Protected Areas, 2013  

... "The “landscape of fear” is widely ignored as a key natural process in our ecosystems. Without anti-predation behavior, ungulate species are kept in a system that is far from being natural. For protecting the natural processes in national parks without predators, the question is not if population control is maintained, but rather how it is done (CROMSIGT et al. 2013). Regular hunting is a very poor substitute for imitating the “landscape of fear” normally created by large carnivores (PROFFITT et al. 2009) and contains great risks to the objectives of the national parks. Human hunters can select by unnatural behavioral criteria (MILNER et al. 2007) or have negative genetic effects (COLTMAN et al. 2003).

Exclusion of large herbivores: Long-term changes within the plant community M Newman, FJG Mitchell, DL Kelly - Forest Ecology and Management, 2013

...  Fencing to conserve biodiversity is increasingly used as a management tool, so the long-term impacts of large herbivore removal requires investigation. The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of large herbivore exclusion on vegetation, through time, using empirical long-term vegetation data collected over ∼40 years...With total removal of large herbivores from the oak woodland ecosystem, this study has identified significant changes in ground flora composition and abundance, and a general homogenisation of the vegetation community with increasing time since large herbivore removal. Large-scale long-term fencing of oak woodlands should be replaced by large herbivore management programmes, in order to ensure the conservation of diverse woodland ecosystems.

Spatiotemporal variation in deer browse and tolerance in a woodland herb HR Prendeville, JC Steven, LF Galloway - Ecology, 2014

 ... To investigate broad-scale patterns of deer herbivory, we examined the frequency and reproductive consequences of deer browse over three years in 17 populations of Campanulastrum americanum spanning the latitudinal extent of its range. Even though deer are overabundant throughout the range of C. americanum, we found spatiotemporal variation in deer browse frequency (0-0.96, mean 0.46) and its effects on plant reproductive success. The four southernmost populations experienced high levels of herbivory ... Across many populations and years, average fitnesses of browsed and uneaten plants were similar, suggesting that plants are tolerant to browse. However, since large plants have greater reproductive success and are more likely to be browsed, tolerance may be influenced by plant size...

Long‐term biological legacies of herbivore density in a landscape‐scale experiment: forest understories reflect past deer density treatments for at least 20 years

T Nuttle, TE Ristau, AA Royo - Journal of Ecology, 2013

... We sampled understorey vegetation in former clearcut areas where density of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was manipulated (3.9-31.2 deer/km2) for 10 years (1979-1990) and stands experienced ambient deer density (ca. 10-12 deer/km2) for the next 20 years (1990-2010) to determine whether initial deer-density treatments still influenced understorey vegetation in 30-yr old, closed-canopy forests.

Stands initially (1979-1990) exposed to higher deer densities had ca. five times higher fern cover and a third the seedling and forb cover in 2010, as well as significantly lower angiosperm species density, compared to stands initially exposed to lower deer densities...

Volunteers Safeguard 30K Reforested Seedlings at Rajala Woods September 26, 2015 Minnesota, WDIO-TV

... A massive undertaking to protect white pine seedlings was underway on Saturday at Boulder Lake as a team of volunteers spent the day bud capping acres of reforested trees there. The white pine buds are a favorite meal for deer, so capping is meant to prevent that. The effort was just another step in Minnesota Power's Rajala Woods initiative to provide for industry and natural benefit with new, healthy forests...

Managing landscapes for multiple objectives: alternative forage can reduce the conflict between deer and forestry A Jarnemo, J Minderman, N Bunnefeld, J Zidar… - Ecosphere, 2014

...Deer (Cervidae) cause considerable damage to forest plantations, crops, and protected habitats. The most common response to this damage is to implement strategies to lower population densities ... On the landscape scale, damage level was negatively related to availability of forage in the field and shrub layers and proportion forest, but was not related to any of the relative deer density indices. Increasing alternative forage may thus decrease damage and thereby reduce conflicts. Additionally, the proportion of forest in the landscape affects damage levels and should thus be considered in landscape planning and when forecasting damage risk...

Understanding deer damage is crucial when planting new forests April 28, 2020 United Kingdom, Mirage News

... “Recent official national statistics from the National Forest Inventory highlighted the fact that 40 percent of British forests have ‘unfavourable’ levels herbivore damage, which limits the survival of young trees ... The study is part of SCALEFORES ... the authors have launched an interactive Deer Damage Tool to help land managers ...

Moose in southern New England? August 12, 2013  Connecticut, The Redding Pilot

 ... Highstead ecologist Ed Faison and colleagues are studying how both species — separately and collectively — are changing the region’s forests. And they are finding that moose and deer do not eliminate tree species but rather slow the rate of tree growth... The researchers believe their study in northern Connecticut and central Massachusetts is the first on the effects of combined deer and moose browsing in North America...

Study aims to end Rock Creek Park deer hunt August 6, 2013 Washington, D.C., WTOP

... The National Park Service has said the deer hunt is needed because the animals are eating so many native plants that the park can't recover...  a study by Dr. Oswald Schmitz, director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, came to a different conclusion. "... deer are not inhibiting forest regeneration in Rock Creek Park," Jessica Almy, an attorney representing opponents of the hunt ...

National Park Service Conducts Mass Slaughter of Deer Last Night in Washington DC's Rock Creek National Park January 7, 2014 Save Rock Creek Deer News Release

... Dr. Oswald Schmitz, Director of Yale University's Institute for Biospheric Studies, analyzed the scientific studies relied upon by the NPS for removing the deer and found that the NPS did not analyze its own data properly. Dr. Schmitz found, unequivocally, that the approximately 300 deer are NOT preventing the Park's forest from regenerating. Dr. Schmitz found that the most serious threat to the Park's native vegetation is invasive non-native plants -- a problem that the NPS has known about for more than 20 years but has refused to address until recently.  In fact, so little native vegetation remains because of the take-over by exotic plants that native deer must leave the Park to find native food to eat..

Effects of large native herbivores on other animals CN Foster, PS Barton, DB Lindenmayer - Journal of Applied Ecology, 2014

... Most empirical studies of herbivory effects compared only two levels of herbivory (76%), and meta-analysis showed that very high densities of herbivores, when compared with very low densities, had mostly negative effects on other animal species. These negative effects were usually attributed to changes in the quantity and/or structure of vegetation. Only 24% of papers studied animal responses across a gradient of herbivore densities; and non-linear responses to herbivory, as well as responses to low and moderate herbivore densities, remain poorly understood.

     The literature also was dominated by short-term studies (76% sampled animal responses for 2 years or less) and there was a high incidence of confounding factors among studies (38% of studies). In addition, many studies used only coarse metrics to assess effects (e.g. only 33% of studies assessed species composition) and few included community-level synthesis (only 31% of studies reported results from more than one animal class)....

Pinus sylvestris sapling growth and recovery from mammalian browsing

JM O'Reilly-Wapstra, BD Moore, M Brewer, J Beaton… - … Ecology and Management, 2014

... we examine the genetic basis of recovery of Scots pine saplings following browsing by red deer ...  These data, matched with our finding of no negative relationships between any recovery traits, indicate that Scots pine is quite robust to once-off browsing events by deer. We suggest that at the sapling stage, Scots pine do not employ resistance as a strategy against deer, but tolerate deer browsing to counteract the negative impacts of herbivory. Hence, the use of recovery traits as a management tool to mitigate the negative impacts of browsing is an option worthy of further investigation.

General and specific responses of understory vegetation to cervid herbivory across a range of boreal forests  JDM Speed, G Austrheim, AJ Hester, EL Meisingset… - Oikos, 2014

... In this study we use a regional-scale design with 51 sites in four boreal forest regions of Norway, to investigate the influence of cervid herbivory on the physical and ecological structure of field layer vegetation.... We found that the height of the field layer and the abundances of individual species were most susceptible to change following short-term cervid exclusion across different forest types and cervid species. Total vegetation density and vascular plant diversity did not respond to cervid exclusion on the same time scale. We also found that the field-layer vegetation in clear-cut forests used by moose was more susceptible to change following cervid exclusion than mature forests used by red deer, but no strong evidence that the response of vegetation to herbivore exclusion varied with productivity. Our study suggests that the parameters that respond to cervid exclusion are consistent across forest types, but that the responsiveness of different forest types is idiosyncratic and hard to predict.

Quantifying deer and turkey leaf litter disturbances in the eastern deciduous forest: have non-trophic effects of consumers been overlooked? (2014) Michael J. Chips, Michael R. Magliocca, Bill Hasson, Walter P. Carson

... we demonstrate that exclosure studies reduce physical disturbances as well as browsing, both of which may synergistically act to cause changes in forest communities. We also caution that many deer fences exclude other vertebrates such as turkeys, which are important herbivores, seed predators, and major agents of disturbance. Consequently, we argue that studies that use fences to exclude deer should explicitly consider non-trophic indirect effects, particularly leaf disturbances and the potential impact of other large consumers as well (e.g., turkeys).

Study tracks deer impact on pest plants October 24, 2011 New Zealand, ABC Online, By Fidelis Rego 

Early findings from a project at a dam on southern Queensland's Darling Downs suggest feral deer may be helping reduce pest plants. University of Queensland researchers ..."We know for example that deer eat prickly pear because we've seen deer teeth marks in prickly pear that could not be eaten by kangaroos," Professor Murray said. "Now the question is how much of that eating is actually important in reducing the impact of prickly pear and equally lantana.

Modelling browsing of deer on beech and birch in northern Germany  M Bobrowski, B Gillich, C Stolter - Forest Ecology and Management, 2015

... Our results indicate that the availability of stands exclusively consisting of birch (preferably young birch) might decrease the proportion of browsed beeches in neighbouring stands, or even favour the selection of birch over beech for food, which would consequently lead to increased future beech regeneration...

Tree diversity promotes growth of late successional species despite increasing deer damage in a restored forest April 2, 2020 Maryland, Ecology

... We show that tree diversity can improve growth of late successional species despite exacerbated mammalian herbivore damage. By facilitating the establishment of species with a range of life-history strategies, increased tree diversity may enhance ecosystem multi-functionality in the early stages of forest restoration...

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) positively affect the growth of mature northern red oak (Quercus rubra) trees RW Lucas, R Salguero-Gómez, DB Cobb, BG Waring… - Ecosphere, 2013

... Understanding and predicting the effects of deer (Cervidae) on forest ecosystems present significant challenges in ecosystem ecology. Deer herbivory can cause large changes in the biomass and species composition of forest understory plant communities, including early life-cycle trees (i.e., seedlings and saplings).... Our findings highlight the indirect effects of white-tailed deer on the growth of adult individuals of Q. rubra in a way opposite of what would be expected from previous studies based on immature or understory tree populations. We suggest the increased growth of adult trees in the presence of deer may be explained by increased nutrient inputs through deer fecal and urine deposits and the alteration of the competitive environment belowground through the reduction of understory vegetation by browsing. Underscoring the ecological and demographic importance of adult trees in forest ecosystems, results from this study suggest the direct and indirect effects of deer on mature trees should not be overlooked.

Old-growth forest floor richness increases with red deer herbivory intensity  SJ Hegland, MS Lilleeng, SR Moe - Forest Ecology and Management, 2013

... We recorded the ungulate herbivory intensities on the island Svanøy in west Norway across 10 years and related this to the present plant richness of an old-growth pine-forest system, recording all plant species groups of the forest understory... Does increased herbivory by red deer harm boreal forest floor richness?  We examine this by relating a herbivory intensity gradient to plant species richness.  Increasing herbivory intensity enhance richness except at artificially high herbivory levels.  Low-growing species groups benefit at the expense of taller growing woody species.  Boreal forest floor richness may benefit from relatively high red deer herbivory intensity.

Herbivory impacts of elk, deer and cattle on aspen forest recruitment along gradients of stand composition, topography and climate  AC Rhodes, HY Wan, SBS Clair - Forest Ecology and Management, 2017

...  We examined the effects of cattle, American elk, and mule deer on aspen regeneration and recruitment along gradients of forest composition and physiographic conditions in 3 National Forests of Utah, USA... We found that 60% of the sites we surveyed had low ungulate activity and good aspen regeneration, 32% were intermediate use sites that warrant additional monitoring, and 8% of sites showed high ungulate use that exhibited aspen regeneration failure and lack of recruitment where targeted management is recommended. We conclude that ungulate impacts in aspen forests should be considered on a site by site basis ...

Regaining the History of Deer Populations and Densities in the Southeastern United States  BB Hanberry, P Hanberry - Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2020

... Deer population sizes declined to a minimum of <215,000 during the early 1900s. Population sizes and mean deer densities were 304,000 and 0.22 deer/km2 by 1940, 476,000 and 0.35 deer/km2 by 1950, 2.9 million to 4.1 million and 2.2 to 3.1 deer/km2 by approximately 1970, 6.2 million and 4.6 deer/km2 by 1982, and 10.8 million to 12 million and 8 to 9 deer/km2 by about 2003... the current population may be within the bounds of mid to high historical deer densities ... deer may be considered a natural disturbance helpful in controlling increased tree densities during the past century ...

Logging can be beneficial, especially given forest fire suppression

TWRA sets record straight on habitat management strategy October 9, 2021 Tennessee, Johnson City Press

... Closed canopy, old growth forests are biological deserts that lack good habitat for most wildlife species because of the absence of ground vegetation. TWRA is restoring one of the most endangered habitats in the U.S. by restoring native grasslands. This project will convert approximately 230 acres of closed-canopy forest to “younger” habitat known as early successional habitat that will benefit a much greater variety of game and nongame species...

Timbering in state forests vital to wildlife and economy November 29, 2016 Ohio, Cincinnati.com

... The Ruffed Grouse Society ... strongly supports timber harvesting in Ohio’s publicly owned forests...  the creation of new growth, early successional forests or young brushy woods... supports populations of deer and wild turkey ...

Beauregard wildfires have little impact on hunting season, deer population November 9, 2023 Louisiana, Lake Charles KPLC

... “While it is still early, we are only second to the record of 2022, so things are looking pretty good,” Bordelon said... this is likely due to the parish’s timber industry. Timber harvesting and thinning allows for more sunlight to hit the ground, promoting plant growth that deer forage for..,

New York has work to do on deer management November 25, 2015 New York, Elmira Star-Gazette

... Heavy selective timbering of our state forests would allow the growth of young forest that is appropriate for sustaining not only deer, but populations of other wildlife as well. The outcry by some to “protect” our state forests from timbering is unfounded; an old, mature forest does absolutely nothing to support wildlife...

'Maintain' Sawyer deer population, committee advises December 27, 2020, Wisconsin,Ashland Daily Press

   ... concerned about deer numbers in the forested areas of the county ... “The habitat up here has changed so dramatically in the last 50 years, where food coming in after timber cuts or burns is not good deer food. New species taking over the heavily-browsed areas are ironwood and blue beech, which don’t have a lot of nutrients for deer. We’re losing our shoots of maple and popple to these invasives.” ...

Variability in Seed Production Can Improve Sugar Maple Production in High Deer Density

Recruitment Success for Mast Year Cohorts of Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) Over Three Decades of Heavy Deer Browsing J Macmillan, LW Aarssen - The American Midland Naturalist, 2017

... Our results suggest seed masting in sugar maple can bolster cohort recruitment success that otherwise would virtually (or completely) fail when severe impact from deer browsing is combined with other typical early life-stage mortality risks, e.g., from drought, neighborhood competition, and persistent overhead canopy shade...

Mild Browsing Can Increase Soybean Production

Controlling white-tailed deer in soybeans January 16, 2018 Michigan, Morning Ag Clips

...  research by Rogerson et al. in 2014, mild to moderate damage has been shown to increase soybean yield in some cases by stimulating additional branching and pod set. Deer damage is more likely in small fields with a high proportion of forested edge, according to Braun in a 1996 study...

Heavy Deer Browsing Not A Significant Reduction in Hard Maple Stems 

Effect of deer browsing on quality of hardwood timber in northern Michigan, 1955

... The conclusions to be drawn from this study, while not entirely clear in every instance, seem to show that a satisfactory stocking of hard (sugar) maple can be expected even under the severest of browsing.  Since there were more than 2,000

stems per acre in the stud)' area, over 600 of which were free of serious rot, it is evident that escape occurred and that over browsing did not result in an appreciable loss in the number of potentially merchantable stems. 

Deer Benefit from Logging

Forest Foods Deer Eat October 10, 2020 Michigan DNR

... As trees grow, a maturing forest provides far less food than its previous young, brushy phase which occurred shortly after logging... Preferred foods:  White Cedar (Arbor Vitae), White Pine, Maples, Yellow Birch, Dogwoods and Viburnums, Sumac ...

Thinning forest canopy can pay off for landowners August 23, 2020 Oklahoma, Enid News & Eagle

... white-tailed deer can be found almost everywhere in North America, but they prefer to bed in areas with thick cover that provides protection from predators and the elements. Oklahoma deer prefer flowering plants but also forage on other types, including shoots, leaves and native grasses. They also eat acorns and fruit such as blackberries. Turning a forest into such a woodland is like opening a buffet line...

Vermont Plans to Step Up Logging on Public Land Around Camel's Hump April 11, 2018 Seven Days

... a state forester, had spotted deer tracks leading from a cluster of evergreens 50 yards away. Brimming with pride, he described how the state had approved logging in that stand of trees 17 years ago to foster ideal conditions for deer. The tracks suggested the strategy had worked...

Tribal forests in Wisconsin are more diverse, sustainable April 13, 2018 University of Wisconsin-Madison

... Deer thrive in the edges between habitats, as occur around clear-cut portions of nontribal forests. More selectively logged tribal forests, with fewer roads and houses, provide fewer edges...

One of largest timber sales in Pisgah National Forest now open for public comment August 5, 2019 North Carolina, Citizen-Times

...  not just a timber sale, but aims to address change in the forest needed to meet the Forest Service’s mission of sustaining the health, diversity ...  will also include permanent wildlife fields, which means removing stumps after logging so that they don’t regenerate, and seeding the fields with vegetation grouse, turkey, elk and deer like...

Asking the right questions about Predator Free New Zealand - New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 2023

... In 1930, botanist Leonard Cockayne believed that overbrowsing by deer was damaging mountain vegetation and vastly accelerating soil erosion. His world view led to his prediction, quoted with relish by Graeme Caughley (1983), that, if the numbers of deer were not controlled, “vast areas of mountain-side will be turned into moving debris”. Ten years of intense official effort by teams of ground hunters and a lot of money spent to eradicate deer from the high country proved that the high erosion rate in mountain land could not be prevented by removing deer browsing...

Watch now: No bucks but woods were alive on the opener of Wisconsin's traditional gun-deer season November 21, 2021 Madison.com

... “There’s still a lot of deer up north, but it’s not what it used to be in the good old days. And that mostly relates to the general age of the forest. The forest had been logged off heavily and as that forest was regrowing, the young forests supported a lot of deer,” Pritzl said...

Study weighs pros and cons of harvest levels December 27, 2017 Minnesota, Tower Timberjay News

...   Should the state’s forests be managed mostly for industry ... While deer generally benefit from increased browse availability in the immediate aftermath of logging, Rusch said there’s an extended period as new aspen grows back, where the sites offer little useful habitat for deer and make them more vulnerable to the effects of winter...

Monitoring the effects of deer on plant abundance and diversity in old-growth temperate coastal rainforests, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia 2009  A McKenzie

... . Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) were introduced to Haida Gwaii, a remote island archipelago in British Columbia, in the late 19th century. The mild climate, abundant vegetation, absence of predators, low hunting pressure and lack of competing herbivores on Haida Gwaii allowed the deer to flourish and the population exploded. This long-term monitoring experiment studies the. effects of Sitka black-tailed deer on the diversity, abundance and reproduction of understory vegetation. In this study 20 deer exclosures were monitored over a period of 12 years from 1997 to 2009 in old growth forests on Graham Island, the largest island of the Haida Gwaii archipelago. The results showed that protection from deer did not have an effect on species richness. However, deer are having a significant impact on the abundance of understory vegetation in the medium height stratum (0.5 m - 1.5 m) and they are shifting the community composition towards less palatable species...

Poor Habitat on Public Land

Deer Harvest Results for 2017 – 2018 April 11, 2018 North Carolina, The Tribune Papers

... The total number of deer reported taken on the Pisgah National Forest was 496. That number on the Nantahala was 554. That’s 1050 deer, or one deer per one thousand acres. It should be a red flag to both the National Forest and WRC leadership that habitat on those Forests are not meeting the needs of wildlife. With a 60% rise of harvest District wide, and low harvest on public lands, this indicates deer are moving off poor habitat National Forests onto private lands...

Collecting Data

A field method for rapidly assessing deer density and impacts in forested ecosystems 2021 Ecological Management & Restoration

... The method combines commonly used protocols for surveying deer faecal pellets, vegetation impact and floristic attributes, without relying on indicator species...  We detected differences in vegetation impact and other floristic attributes between four locations surveyed in 2020 from a modest sample size (23–24 transects). The method is simple to implement and can be applied in a wide range of forest types. In comparison to alternatives (e.g. fenced exclosures), this method presents a rapid and cost-effective means of collecting information on deer density and impacts, and detecting large differences in impact...

Volunteers sought to assess deer impact on vegetation June 3, 2019 Minnesota, Lillie News

...  “We have surprisingly little information available statewide that determines deer impacts to vegetation,” said Matt Russell, extension forest resources specialist and university assistant professor...

Conservatism took hold here 1000 years ago. Until the people fled. June 1, 2018 New Mexico, Washington Post

...  During the eighth century, a new kind of civilization arose in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon ...  As the population grew, people cleared nearby forests to plant corn. It seemed like a good idea until Chacoans belatedly realized that the forests were home to the deer whose meat and hides they prized. Just as the deer supply began to dwindle, a drought hit in the 1100s, devastating crops...

Deer population numbers stay steady, despite CWD concerns September 25, 2021 Minnesota, Post-Bulletin

... “The most recent goal-setting process had goals of 20-25 deer per square mile,” according to the DNR. 

State seeks input on forest plan June 28, 2018 Pennsylvania, The Wellsboro Gazette

... an emphasis on habitat maintenance and improvement ... create a diversified age classes within the forest. Right now, about 83 percent of the state forest is “older,” ...  creating a sustainable lumbering industry ...

Deer and Forest Management

Declines in deer population may point to larger issues January 10, 2022 Georgia. UGA Today

... Deer populations in the North Georgia mountains have dropped by almost two-thirds over the past few decades, according to new research by the University of Georgia... In older forests, shade from towering trees provides little opportunity for new growth on the forest floor—the majority of forests across North Georgia...

Silvicultural herbicides and forest succession influence understory vegetation and nutritional ecology of black-tailed deer in managed forests  AC Ulappa, LA Shipley, RC Cook, JG Cook… - … Ecology and Management, 2020

... Deer were equally likely to obtain diets that satisfied requirements in treated and untreated plots, indicating that although herbicide application reduced understory biomass and DE intake, it did not explain whether deer were able to meet requirements. We also found that the biomass of deciduous shrubs and trees, forbs, and suitable forage was ~25 times greater in 4–9 year old stands than closed canopy stands (14–90 years old), indicating the importance of maintaining early seral habitat for sustaining populations of black-tailed deer...

Find loggers and you'll find deer ... December 1, 2015 North Carolina Sportsman

... North Carolina is known as the birthplace of sustainable forestry practices, aka, the Cradle of Forestry in America, and those practices offer a wide range of effects, from fresh clear- cuts to mature forests, and every stage of the game offers deer different opportunities to live..

Evaluating the impacts of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) browsing on vegetation in fenced and unfenced timber harvests  HA Parker, JT Larkin, D Heggenstaller, J Duchamp… - Forest Ecology and …, 2020

... We evaluated the short-term (<10 years) impact of white-tailed deer browsing on woody structure and composition in northcentral Pennsylvania... Our results suggest that browsing by deer in the years initially (<10 years) following timber harvest may not immediately impact woody species density ... Our results from large, operational-scale timber harvests combined with those from previous small-scale studies stress the potential value of deer exclusion fencing to achieve successful forest regeneration...

Deer browsing and shrub competition set sapling recruitment height and interact with light to shape recruitment niches for temperate forest tree species MB Walters, EJ Farinosi, JL Willis - Forest Ecology and Management, 2020

...we provide evidence that shrub competition, ungulate browsing, harvest gap size and their interactions constrain height-specific sapling recruitment among tree species in the temperate forests of Michigan. Similar mechanisms may operate in other forests with high ungulate populations...

U.S. Forest Services approves Twelve Mile timber project in Pisgah National Forest February 15, 2020 North Carolina, MSN

... the project will help maintain a healthy and diverse forest that supports wildlife, including elk, deer, turkey and songbirds, provides a sustainable output of timber, improves water quality and aquatic habitat, and improves access to the forest, according to Jason Herron, project lead with the Forest Service...

Logging helps wildlife on WMAs  September 12, 2019 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

... A forest of old-age hardwoods is certainly magnificent to behold, but its value as wildlife habitat is limited. The tall, thick canopy of mature oaks shades the ground below. Without sunlight hitting the forest floor, other plants don't grow, which means there is little on the forest floor for deer, squirrels, wild turkeys, bobwhite quail and songbirds to eat...

Blame modern timber harvesting for erasing wildlife habitat December 1, 2018 Minnesota, Duluth News Tribune

... Itasca County ... was wooded and wild with a wonderfully diverse habitat. But during the past 10 years it largely has been logged off... There seems to be no evidence to explain the low grouse numbers and struggling deer population other than the destruction of habitat and the forest monoculture left in the wake of modern timber harvesting...

Gas developer helps fund restoration in wildlife-management area December 7, 2018 West Virginia, West Virginia Explorer

... will include the application of herbicides in pre-timber and post-timber harvesting units to control undesirable vegetation and promote productive woodland regeneration for wildlife. ...

Thank modern timber harvesting for creating wildlife habitat December 8, 2018 Minnesota, Duluth News Tribune

... Deer die in hard winters because of a lack of available food. However, thanks to food resources enhanced by modern logging techniques and young forest habitats, Minnesota's deer population is the highest it has been since 2010...

In this brief film (see video below), we explore the history of the hemlock species and the importance of conifer trees for deer’s shelter and food. With the hemlock species in decline as a result of the invasive HWA species, we discuss the importance of our field research, and the possible implications of failing to replace the hemlock species throughout the United States. - February 26, 2019

Potential Interactions between Climate Change and Land Use for Forest Issues in the Eastern United States - Land, 2024

... Climate largely has not warmed during 1981–2020 compared to 1895–1980, but precipitation has increased. Increased precipitation and land use (encompassing fire exclusion and forestation, with coarse fuel accumulation due to increased tree densities) have interacted synergistically to dampen wildfire frequency in the humid eastern U.S... No strong evidence appears to exist for recent climate change or land use influences on deer populations and associated herbivory levels...

What happens to a PA forest after a timber sale? This area offers an example August 27, 2023 Pennsylvania, Yahoo

... It is true that the Game Commission rakes in a lot of money each year through timber sales. If they did not care about wildlife, the agency could make much more...  What looked barren in May was a jungle of life by late summer. Seedlings and stump sprouts were shooting up everywhere ... A deer paradise already existed in much of the cut areas! ...

Drastic changes in ground-dwelling beetle communities following high-intensity deer culling

February, 2024 Oxford University Press

... Overall, the culling of large herbivores resulted in a reduction of ground-dwelling beetle populations, particularly necrophagous species dependent on dung and carrion for survival. Our preliminary research highlights the need for long-term and large-scale experiments to understand the indirect ecological implications of culling programs on ecosystem processes...

Study dishes up surprises about deer behavior, forest impacts July 25, 2023 Pennsylvania, Wildlife & Habitat

Bay Journal

...  the study is showing that what happens in a forest and the best ways to ensure its future growth is much more complex and involves a dance of wildlife, plants and soil.  In some cases, deer may be overly blamed for problems in the understory...  the absence of a native plant does not always indicate overbrowsing by deer...

Geek: Slash walls can keep deer from damaging young forests June 12, 2023 New Hampshire, Concord Monitor

... “Slash” is the forestry term for the parts of trees that aren’t worth the expense of removing after a timber harvest: limbs, tree tops, small trees that got in the way...  the idea of slash walls is to pile up this material to build walls that keep out the deer while the forest regenerates...

What's Left To Learn After 40 Years Of Deer Research? April 27, 2023. Dr. James C. Kroll, North American Whitetail

...  the vast majority of research on deer and habitat revolved around deer damage, rather than how we can manage habitat to benefit both deer and forestry/agriculture.  In fact, the southern U.S. is the only place where scientists have routinely conducted such studies...

Wildlife conversationalists plant tree saplings to improve deer winter habitat May 16, 2023 Michigan, WLUC

... planting more than 45,000 saplings across 100 acres of land in Iron River Township ... “Deer, historically, have used this area for the last 100 years for wintering. The amount of softwood, which is hemlock, white pine, balsam fir and spruce, has declined..."

Deer browsing is just one of many factors shaping North American forests January 31, 2023 Pennsylvania, Phys.org

... estimated deer density of about 18–31 deer per square mile ... "In this study, deer had no discernible influence on height growth or survival of either sugar maple or ash seedlings," he said. "The truth is that seedlings in Northern hardwood forests respond to a complex of environmental factors in addition to deer herbivory, such as light availability, soil quality and competition from understory vegetation like blackberry." [ Marc McDill, Penn State associate professor of forest management,  recently published in Forest Ecology and Management]

Re-framing deer herbivory as a natural disturbance regime with ecological and socioeconomic outcomes in the eastern United States - Science of The Total Environment, 2023

...  deer contribute to both fuel reduction and ecological restoration of herbaceous plants and historical open forests of savannas and woodlands by controlling tree and shrub densities, mimicking the consumer role of fire... From a perspective of historical ecology rather than current baselines, deer impart a fundamental disturbance process with many ecological benefits and a range of socioeconomic effects...

Temperate coppice forests in north-western Italy are resilient to wild ungulate browsing in the short to medium term August 29, 2022 Forest ecology and management 2022 pp. 120484

...  The height of shoots was the variable that showed the biggest difference between fenced and unfenced areas. A significant negative effect of browsing on shoot height was found at the beginning of the experiment, with shoots growing in unfenced area showing the lowest height increments. After the third year, when the browsing intensity diminished, we observed the opposite trend, with shoots growing in unfenced areas showing higher height increments compared with fenced areas. A similar trend was observed also for the diameter of shoots over the course of the experiment. Eleven years after coppicing, however, the structural characteristics of the natural regeneration converged at all sites and in both fenced and unfenced areas...

'Degraded' Tropical Forests Surprisingly Rich in Wildlife, Study Finds December 21, 2022 YAHOO!News

... The study combined data on the growth of trees in Borneo with data on the size and food intake of 248 animal species ... while old-growth forests are a vital carbon sink, the study found that animals eat more food in total in logged forests, consuming two and half times as much energy as they do in old-growth woodlands. In oil palm plantations, the flow of energy from plants to animals all but collapses, particularly among deer, elephants, and other large mammals ...

Deer and invasive plants in suburban forests: assessing variation in deer pressure and herbivory 2021 Écoscience

... Fragmented suburban forests of the northeastern US are challenged by abundant white-tailed deer ... The pellet method produced estimates generally far below the region’s known deer density. Browse rates and shrub layer cover were negatively correlated, and correlations of the three indicators with evidence of deer pressure from a subsequent 6.5-year exclosure experiment supported shrub layer cover as the better choice. Using that measure in 10 forests, we detected a weak pattern of more grazed stands under greater deer pressure, but few plants per stand were grazed; any negative influence of deer on these species was limited to individuals, without population effects...

Scientists present theories for deer decline at Prince of Wales Island deer summit November 2, 2022 Alaska,  KRBD

... It’s what scientists call an “even-aged forest.” When trees all start growing at the same time, they create a dense canopy that prevents light from reaching the ferns and berry bushes that black-tail deer love to snack on. And because the trees grow close together, they end up long and spindly — not the massive, thick, tight-grained trunks that make old growth lumber so highly valued...

Northern hardwoods seedlings respond to a complex of environmental factors when deer herbivory is limited - 2023, Wisconsin, Forest Ecology and Management

... Deer had only minor impact on growth and survival of sugar maple and ash seedlings.  Seedlings responded primarily to light availability, soil N, and initial size.  Measures of root collar diameter:height detected some effect of deer herbivory...

Does white-tailed deer density affect tree stocking in forests of the Eastern United States? August 8, 2019 Forest Ecology and Management

... Despite deer pressure, a major transition in eastern forests has resulted in increased tree densities. Methods To reconcile conflicting trends, we applied generalized linear mixed models to compare deer densities during 1982 and then 1996 to tree stocking after about 30 years and 15 years of potential reductions of small trees by deer, for the entire eastern US and 11 ecological provinces... Deer densities and tree stocking were not related significantly for the entire eastern US...  Furthermore, major tree species trends did not match tree browse preferences. Conclusions Rather than too few trees, too many trees is an ecological problem where historical open oak and pine forests had herbaceous understories, and currently, trees have captured growing space. We attribute other drivers than deer to explain this transition...

Rapid digitization to reclaim thematic maps of white-tailed deer density from 1982 and 2003 in the conterminous US January 22, 2020 PeerJ

... Using object-based image analysis followed by random forests classification, we rapidly digitized choropleth maps of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) densities in the conterminous US during 1982 and 2001 to 2005 (hereafter, 2003), allowing access to deer density information stored in images... Deer densities likely are within historical levels in most of the US...

Problems with Exclosure Studies:  Deer exclusion unveils abiotic filtering in forest understory plant assemblages 2021, Annals of Botany

... while exclosures prove useful to assess overall effects of large herbivores, the results from our studies at broader scales on the archipelago, suggest that exclosure experiments should be used cautiously when inferring the mechanisms at work...  deer exclusion did not lead to an increase in beta diversity ...

Deer as a natural disturbance that supports landscape and herbaceous plant diversity, 2021, Sciforum

... we present that deer may be considered a natural disturbance helpful in controlling increased tree and shrub densities during the past century and thereby favoring a diversity of habitats and herbaceous plants ...  Large herbivores are natural disturbances that have been removing plant biomass and altering landscape and vegetation structure for millions of years; similar to other disturbances, deer ‘regimes’ vary in severity. From a perspective of historical ecology rather than current baselines, deer as a disturbance provide many ecological benefits ...

Addressing regional relationships between white‐tailed deer densities and land classes 2021  Ecology and Evolution

...  White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations have recovered to about 30 million animals in the United States... at regional scales, deer overall occurred at greater densities in forests and woody wetlands and lower densities in agricultural and residential development, which did not appear to support more deer. Deer preference for forests does result in damage to forest products, but alternatively, some may consider that deer provide important socioeconomic and ecological services by reducing number of small trees, particularly in the absence of other disturbances that historically controlled tree biomass...

Effects of Deer Herbivory on Hardwood Forests in the Piedmont of South Carolina, 2020,

CN Norman, J Thrift, ST Guynn, DC Guynn Jr, D Hagan

... at deer densities of 20–24 deer per sq. mile, oak regeneration was not negatively impacted due to deer browsing in a thirteen-year-old stand in the Piedmont of South Carolina. Deer may contribute positively to oak regeneration by controlling certain invasive species and subsequently decreasing competition for resources (i.e., water, sunlight, nutrients)...

A 10 year study of using deer to improve biodiversity in Surrey in a fenced nature preserve. - December 7, 2020 United Kingdom