Deer Disrupt Natural Forest Growth

Leo Scheidemantel
March 8th 2014

No author given
Published: March 8, 2014
Source

Summary
Cornell University did a recent study on how deer impact the natural growth of forests. Surprisingly instead of benefiting the forest's growth the study showed that the deer negatively impacted the forest. The deer preferred eating the native plants and rejected the invasive species. Without the native species the invasive species thrives and reproduces. Another impact the deer had was overgrazing on the plants caused bare soil and less biodiversity of the area. Researchers germinated seeds found in forests with high populations of deer and compared them with germinated seeds from forests with low populations of deer. The forests with high deer population had more invasive species's seeds and fewer native plant's seeds than the forests with lower populations of deer.

Connections
This article relates to our ecosystems unit and our plants unit. In the ecosystem unit we learned about interspecific competition, which in this case the invasive species and the native species of plants are competing with each other. And the deer feed mostly on the native species, which helps the invasive species out-compete the native plants. In the plants unit we learned about plant's different ways of seed dispersal as well as how they grow.  The deer feed on the native plants before they are able to reproduce as well as the fact that the deer do not eat the seeds or fruits, they eat the leaves and stems. Without the leaves and stems the native plants are not able to produce enough food for themselves through photosynthesis to grow reproductive parts. The invasive plants however survive and reproduce, even though the deer do not eat them other animals in the forest such as birds may feed on any fruit produced and spread the seeds. Thus further spreading the invasive species and diminishing the native species.