Summary1. High-density populations of large herbivores are now widespread. Wildlife managers commonly attempt to control large herbivores through hunting to meet specific management objectives, considering population density as the minimal key source of information. Here, we review the problems of censusing populations of large herbivores and describe an alternative approach, employing indicators of ecological change. 2. Estimating density of large herbivores with high precision and accuracy is difficult, especially over large areas, and requires considerable investment of time, people and money. Management decisions are often made on an annual basis, informed by population changes over the previous year. However, estimating year-to-year changes in density is not a realistic goal for most large herbivores. Furthermore, population density per se provides no information on the relationship between the population and its habitat. 3. For successful management of large herbivores, we need to consider not only the fate of the population, but rather changes in both population and habitat features, as well as their interaction. Managers require information on trends in both the animal population and habitat quality in order to interpret changes in the interaction between these two compartments. 4. We propose that a set of indicators of animal performance, population abundance, habitat quality and/or herbivore habitat impact provides relevant information on the populationhabitat system. Monitoring temporal changes in these indicators provides a new basis for setting hunting quotas to achieve specific management objectives. This sort of adaptive management is employed widely in France for managing roe deer Capreolus capreolus . 5. Synthesis and applications . The management of large herbivores would be improved by investing fewer resources in trying to estimate the absolute abundance of ungulates, and more resources in collecting additional data to inform understanding of the ecological status of the ungulate-habitat system being managed. This paper presents a set of indicators of ecological change for monitoring the interaction between a population and its habitat as a basis for adaptive management to attain explicit goals and to improve knowledge of the system. This approach could improve management for a variety of large herbivores, by harmonizing actions at wide spatial scales.

Aims: Zoochory is a prominent dispersal process in a wide range of plant species.However, the extent to which the trait composition of dispersed seed assemblages differs from the regional assemblage remains untested, as does the extent to which sympatric native herbivores disperse traits non-randomly.Location: Lorris and Montargis forests, central France. Methods:We compared the taxonomic and functional composition of seed assemblages dispersed by three wild ungulates to the characteristics of the regional flora in an agro-forested landscape. We collected roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) faeces in two forests, and subjected the samples to germination under controlled conditions. We first examined how different vectors influence the composition of the dispersed plant assemblages by comparing abundance and species richness of the seedlings emerging from the faeces of the three ungulates. We then compared the functional characteristics of the dispersed pool with those of the regional flora in a multivariate functional space built from 20 relevant plant traits.Results: A total of 754 seedlings and 46 plant species germinated from 300 faeces samples, with higher plant species richness and abundance for red deer faeces. All three ungulates widely use forest habitat, but the proportion of non-forest plants was higher in red deer and wild boar faeces than in the regional species pool. Traits such as seed shape, seed size or seed bank longevity affected dispersal probability, but their effects were overshadowed by habitat effects.Conclusions: Endozoochory acts as an indirect functional filter, filtering species according to the vectors' feeding habitat. This could affect the composition of forest plant communities by allowing plants from open habitats to colonize forested areas.

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