Phosphorus Translocation by Red Deer on a Subalpine Grassland in the Central European Alps

Schütz, Martin; Risch, Anita C.; Achermann, G.; Thiel-Egenter, Conny; Page‐Dumroese, Deborah S.; Jürgensen, Martin F.; Edwards, Peter J.

doi:10.1007/s10021-006-0091-4

Cited by 44 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…I review information regarding a case study from the Swiss National Park (SNP), based on a system with native red deer (Cervus elaphus) as the major herbivore, which compared P removal in aboveground biomass due to foraging with P input due to deposition of feces [13]. I review data on deer body composition regarding P, population density in the park, and movement and mortality patterns to construct a mass balance for P at the scale of the deer population.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schütz et al [13] studied native red deer as the major herbivore in a national park study site, a grazing lawn of 10.7 hectares. They looked at concentrations of P in plants and soils from preferred short-grass and non-preferred tall-grass vegetation, and compared P removal of aboveground biomass due to grazing with P input due to deposition of feces.…”

Section: Red Deer As An Agent Of P Translocation In the Swiss Nationamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In their analysis, Schütz et al [13] made the implicit assumption that the red deer using the study site are always the same individuals, as they made no reference to the biological cycle of red deer in this region. Woodmansee and Duncan [15] showed that the P cycle in grassland systems is nearly closed based on mass balance without harvests, and Schütz et al [13] explicitly adopted the assumption that there are no other existing P sinks or P sources.…”

Section: Phosphorous Translocations At the Scale Of The Red Deer Popumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Woodmansee and Duncan [15] showed that the P cycle in grassland systems is nearly closed based on mass balance without harvests, and Schütz et al [13] explicitly adopted the assumption that there are no other existing P sinks or P sources. They found no transfer of P between the short-grass and tall-grass portions in the 10.7 ha study site.…”

Section: Phosphorous Translocations At the Scale Of The Red Deer Popumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, natural risk factors have gone extinct in the park, as none of the large predators is present, thus eliminating this mortality factor. Schütz et al [13] did not mention the use of their study site by other herbivores, thus I assume that it was only used by red deer. Furthermore, there is no competing domestic livestock in the park and the only factors possibly resulting in summer mortalities are accidents or rare diseases and, due to the lack of large predators, overabundance of the native herbivore community (see [17]).…”

Section: Phosphorous Translocations At the Scale Of The Red Deer Popumentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biotic Translocation of Phosphorus: The Role of Deer in Protected Areas

Flueck

2009

Sustainability

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Biogeochemical cycles are cornerstones of biological evolution. Mature terrestrial ecosystems efficiently trap nutrients and certain ones are largely recycled internally. Preserving natural fluxes of nutrients is an important mission of protected areas, but artificially leaky systems remain common. Native red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the Swiss National Park (SNP) are known to reduce phosphorus (P) in preferred feeding sites by removing more P than is returned with feces. At larger scales it becomes apparent that losses are occurring due to seasonal deer movements out of the SNP where most deer end up perishing. Thus, the SNP contributes to producing deer which translocate P to sink areas outside the SNP due to several artificial factors. An adult female dying outside of SNP exports about 1.8 kg of P, whereas a male dying outside of SNP at 8 years of age exports 7.2 kg of P due also to annual shedding of antlers. Averaged over the vegetated part of the SNP, the about 2,000 deer export 0.32 kg/ha/yr of P. Other ungulate species using the SNP and dying principally outside of its borders would result in additional exports of P. Leakiness in this case is induced by: a) absence of the predator community and thus a lack of summer mortalities and absence of several relevant non-lethal predator effects, b) hunting-accelerated population turnover rate, and c) deaths outside of SNP principally from hunting. The estimated export rate for P compares to rates measured in extensive production systems which receive 10-50 kg/ha/yr of P as fertilizer to compensate the losses from biomass exports. Assumptions were made regarding red deer body weight or population turnover rate, yet substituting my estimates with actual values from the SNP would only affect somewhat the magnitude of the effect, but not its direction. The rate of P loss is a proxy for losses of other elements, the most critical ones being those not essential OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2009, 1 105 to autotrophs, but essential to heterotrophs. High deer turnover rates combined with accelerated biomass export warrants detailed mass balances of macro and micro nutrients, and studies of biogeochemical cycles in protected areas are essential if preserving natural processes is a mandate.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Red Deer As An Agent Of P Translocation In the Swiss Nationamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phosphorous Translocations At the Scale Of The Red Deer Popumentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phosphorous Translocations At the Scale Of The Red Deer Popumentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phosphorous Translocations At the Scale Of The Red Deer Popumentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biotic Translocation of Phosphorus: The Role of Deer in Protected Areas

Flueck

2009

Sustainability

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Herbivores sculpt leaf traits differently in grasslands depending on life form and land‐use histories

Firn

Schütz

Nguyen

et al. 2017

Ecology

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Vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores alter plant communities directly by selectively consuming plant species; and indirectly by inducing morphological and physiological changes to plant traits that provide competitive or survivorship advantages to some life forms over others. Progressively excluding aboveground herbivore communities (ungulates, medium and small sized mammals, invertebrates) over five growing seasons, we explored how leaf morphology (specific leaf area or SLA) and nutrition (nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and calcium) of different plant life forms (forbs, legumes, grasses, sedges) correlated with their dominance. We experimented in two subalpine grassland types with different land-use histories: (1) heavily grazed, nutrient-rich, short-grass vegetation and (2) lightly grazed, lower nutrient tall-grass vegetation. We found differences in leaf traits between treatments where either all herbivores were excluded or all herbivores were present, showing the importance of considering the impacts of both vertebrates and invertebrates on the leaf traits of plant species. Life forms responses to the progressive exclusion of herbivores were captured by six possible combinations: (1) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency (leaf area/nutrients) where lower nutrient levels are invested in leaf construction, but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, forbs in both vegetation types, (2) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency, for example, legumes in short grass, (3) increased leaf size but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, legumes in the tall grass, (4) increased number of leaves produced and increased resource use efficiency, for example, grasses in the short grass, (5) increased resource use efficiency of leaves only, for example, grasses and sedges in the tall grass, and (6) no response in terms of leaf construction or dominance, for example, sedges in the short grass. Although we found multiple possible responses by life forms to progressive exclusion of herbivores, we also found some important generalities. Changes in leaf traits of legumes and grasses correlated with their increasing dominance in the short-grass vegetation and plants were more efficient at constructing photosynthetic tissue when herbivores are present with few exceptions. These results demonstrate that vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores are essential to maintain plant species richness and resource-use efficiency.

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Large Herbivores

Senn

2022

Landscape Series

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Phosphorus Translocation by Red Deer on a Subalpine Grassland in the Central European Alps

Cited by 44 publications

References 41 publications

Biotic Translocation of Phosphorus: The Role of Deer in Protected Areas

Biotic Translocation of Phosphorus: The Role of Deer in Protected Areas

Herbivores sculpt leaf traits differently in grasslands depending on life form and land‐use histories

Large Herbivores

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