Seasonal dynamics of forage for red deer in temperate forests: importance of the habitat properties, stand development stage and overstorey dynamics

Abstract

he recent increase of red deer Cervus elaphus population and consequent damage caused by their herbivory impact increasingly concern foresters and farmers in Slovakia as well as in other European countries. hus, the topic of vegetation-deer interactions with focus on forage production is especially relevant for developing adequate management guidelines. Using data from 320 sampling plots, we estimated the overall availability of all forage items seasonally consumed by red deer in commercial temperate forests and identiied the main factors afecting forage availability in summer and winter. We found that cutblocks were the most productive habitats throughout the year irrespective of the site quality. Summer forage biomass peaked at ≈8 years and winter forage biomass at ≈10 years following felling, then slowly declined as the cutblocks aged and the canopy increased. Understorey vegetation production in mature forests was determined primarily by light availability, as the major driving factor of vegetation growth in the closed-canopy forest ecosystems, and to a lesser extent by a site quality. We suggest that the site quality index that is traditionally used in forestry is not an eicient predictor of the forage availability for red deer, and estimations of the forage potential of hunting grounds should incorporate more complex models to evaluate carrying capacity of the landscape.

Satellite‐based habitat monitoring reveals long‐term dynamics of deer habitat in response to forest disturbances

“…This demonstrates that the removal of biological legacies through salvage logging can negatively affect ungulates by shortening the access to highly attractive foraging habitat. Overall, the temporal patterns of habitat suitability we observed here match well with expected changes in forage availability with stand development (Smolko et al 2018). This indicates that forage availability likely remains the most important factor determining habitat quality for deer in forest openings even as disturbed sites are recovering (Dupke et al 2016).…”

Drivers of above‐ground understorey biomass and nutrient stocks in temperate deciduous forests

“…Understorey biomass, nutrient concentration and stock estimates were generally within similar ranges as those reported in previous studies (e.g. Axmanová et al, ; Ernst, ; Ewald, Braun, Zeppenfeld, Jehl, & Heurich, ; Siccama, Bormann, & Likens, ; Smolko & Veselovská, ; Thrippleton, Bugmann, Kramer‐priewasser, & Snell, ; Welch et al, ; Whittaker, Bormann, Likens, & Siccama, ). The high variability of biomass estimates in this study (both among and within regions), however, suggests that comparing understorey biomass values among studies is challenging and not necessarily insightful.…”

“…Understorey biomass, however, is generally considered as the most important indicator for understorey functioning, especially when considering the understorey's role in water and nutrient cycling, food provision for ungulates and its effect on tree regeneration (e.g. Mabry, Gerken, & Thompson, ; Royo & Carson, ; Smolko & Veselovská, ; Thrippleton, Bugmann, Folini, & Snell, ). When looking specifically at the contribution of the understorey to nutrient cycling processes and forage provision, understorey nutrient concentrations will play an important role as well (González‐Hernández & Silva‐Pando, ; Pan et al, ; Tessier & Raynal, ).…”

Importance of overstorey attributes for understorey litter production and nutrient cycling in European forests

“…Contrary to our third hypothesis, the quality of overstorey litter did not influence understorey biomass or its contribution to litter production. This again confirms that light availability is the main limiting resource for understorey productivity (Gilliam and Turrill 1993;Axmanová et al 2011;Smolko and Veselovská 2018;Landuyt et al 2019b). We did find a general positive relationship between overstorey litter quality (with a low C/N indicating a high litter quality) and understorey N concentration.…”