Foraging behaviour of red deer <i>Cervus elaphus</i>
as a function of the relative availability of two tree species

Chevallier-Redor, Nathalie; Verdier, M.; Dumont, Bertrand

doi:10.1051/animres:2001116

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Red deer readily browse ash in preference to Salix caprea in mainland Europe (Gębcyńska ; Chevallier‐Redor et al . ) although Pépin et al . () in a Swiss enclosure with high deer density (15 hinds km −2 ) found Salix caprea was more browsed and mortality was higher than in ash.…”

Section: Herbivory and Diseasementioning

confidence: 96%

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Biological Flora of the British Isles:Fraxinus excelsior

Thomas

2016

Journal of Ecology

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Summary1. This account presents information on all aspects of the biology of Fraxinus excelsior L. (Ash) that are relevant to understanding its ecological characteristics and behaviour. The main topics are presented within the standard framework of the Biological Flora of the British Isles: distribution, habitat, communities, responses to biotic factors, responses to environment, structure and physiology, phenology, floral and seed characters, herbivores and disease, history, and conservation. 2. Fraxinus excelsior is a large forest tree, native throughout the main islands of Britain and much of mainland Europe. Seedlings are shade tolerant, but adults are not so it tends to be an intermediate successional species, invading gaps in mixed stands rather than forming extensive pure stands. Ash grows on a wide range of soils but is commonest on nutrient-rich soils with a high base status and pH > 4.2, and is at its best on dry calcareous screes and fertile alluvial soils. 3. Fraxinus excelsior is trioecious or subdioecious with male, hermaphrodite and female flowers and trees. Seed production is prolific with periodic higher producing mast years. Seeds are primarily wind-dispersed, but they can float and be moved considerable distances along waterways. Germination is delayed by dormancy until usually the second spring after being shed. 4. Ash is tolerant of drought, but intolerant of spring frosts and so is predicted to fare well under current climate change scenarios, and indeed has recently been expanding in range in Europe. However, ash health and survival is currently seriously compromised by ash dieback caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (Chalara fraxinea) that has the potential to kill all but a very few resistant trees. Moreover, the emerald ash borer beetle Agrilus planipennis, a serious pest of ash species in N. America, has reached Europe (though not yet the British Isles) and poses an equally if not more serious long-term threat to ash.

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Section: Herbivory and Diseasementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Deer readily browse ash, particularly red ( Cervus elaphus L.), roe ( Capreolus capreolus L.) and muntjac deer ( Muntiacus reevesi Ogilby) and moose ( Alces alces L.) (Gębcyńska ; Cooke ; Chevallier‐Redor et al . ; Cooke & Farrell ). The smaller deer also frequently rub the bark from saplings (Wardle ).…”

Section: Herbivory and Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Flora of the British Isles:Fraxinus excelsior

Thomas

2016

Journal of Ecology

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“…At the same time, we constructed an abacus for each tree or shrub species and each sward type in order to link the number of contacts with the metallic structure to vegetation biomass in a 25 × 25 × 20 cm volume. Vegetation samples were therefore taken from the adjacent paddock at each season, with 426 samples (median: 20, range: 4-23 per food item) made in the autumn, 315 (15,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) in the winter, 396 (15,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) in the spring and 396 (15,(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) in the summer.…”

Section: Paddockmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, despite the lists of consumed or avoided plant species [14] and short-term preference measurements between species [6,49] or sapling structures [23,46], there are still very few measurements of food selection by the red deer within a forest habitat. The existing studies generally faced the above-mentioned limitations, and were conducted for only one season [11,31,34,53].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variations of Red Deer selectivity on a mixed forest edge

Dumont

Renaud²,

Morellet³

et al. 2005

Anim. Res.

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-Red deer play a major role in shaping forest vegetation, and a better understanding of their selectivity is needed in order to provide a basis for deer habitat and population management. In order to measure deer selectivity, information is required on both the use and availability of different food items at the feeding site scale, which has often been proven difficult to achieve with wild animals. In this study, we introduced three hinds for five days in each season into a 1 ha paddock established on a mixed forest edge. We analysed the relationship between the choices made on the first day in the paddock and the available vegetation, and calculated selectivity indexes (S i ). The hinds were highly selective, with on average 82% of their diet made of preferred species. Selected and avoided species varied between seasons according to plant phenology, except for conifers and ferns, which were always avoided. The intermediate feeding style of the Red Deer was confirmed, with concentrate foods (broad-leaved trees and seedlings, shrubs, forbs and legumes) being selected from the spring to the autumn, followed by a switch to grass during the winter. The hinds selected grass in the winter since it was a highly available and relatively "high quality" forage at that time. The net intake of digestible energy was probably increased by eating grass than by searching for the higher quality but scarce forbs. This resulted in the dry matter intake maximisation hypothesis being valid during the winter, but rejected for the other seasons. The highly selective consumption of broadleaved seedlings throughout the growing season suggests a high risk of damage to these seedlings at a year-round deer density of about 15 hinds per km². Cervus elaphus / diet selection / Jacobs index / seasonal variations / vegetation sampling techniqueRésumé -Variations saisonnières de la sélectivité du cerf élaphe en milieu forestier. Mieux connaître la sélectivité alimentaire du cerf élaphe est nécessaire pour pouvoir gérer ses populations et limiter ses dégâts en milieu forestier. Ceci nécessite de mesurer simultanément ses choix et les disponibilités alimentaires, ce qui est particulièrement difficile en milieu naturel. Ici, nous avons observé les choix alimentaires de trois biches dans un enclos d'un hectare établi en lisière de forêt, que nous avions préalablement caractérisé et cartographié. Nous rapportons les choix réalisés à chaque saison lors de la première journée dans l'enclos, et calculons pour chaque espèce un indice de sélection (S i ) en reliant le prélèvement des animaux aux disponibilités alimentaires. Les biches ont été très sélectives avec en moyenne 82 % de leur régime composé d'espèces préférées. Elles ont sélectionné des espèces différentes au cours de l'année, seuls les conifères et les fougères étant systématiquement évités. La classification du cerf parmi les « intermediate feeders » a été vérifiée ici, puisque les biches ont, du printemps à l'automne, sélectionné les feuillus, les ligneux bas à feuilles caduques et ...

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“…Experimental systems include deer-proof fenced plots (Scott et al, 2000;Virtanen et al, 2002;Kuiters and Slim, 2002) sometimes associated with selective systems to differentiate between herbivory impact due to roe Capreolus capreolus and red deer Cervus elaphus (Maillard, 1989;Saint-Andrieux and Klein, 2002) or to species other than deer (Cadenasso and Pickett, 2000;Castleberry et al, 2000). Other studies could be also based on simulated browsing by mechanical clipping (Krefting et al, 1966;Canham et al, 1994;Harmer, 1999Harmer, , 2001, on cafeteria tests (Chevallier-Redor et al, 2001;Renaud et al, 2003) and even on density regulation of ungulate populations (Kuiters and Slim, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%