Indirect Effects of a Keystone Herbivore Elevate Local Animal Diversity
We quantified indirect effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on ground-dwelling herpetofauna and invertebrates in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio, USA. We placed cover boards at 12 sites, each consisting of a 10 × 10-m fenced (exclosure) plot and an unfenced (control) plot. Perio...
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Published in | The Journal of wildlife management Vol. 72; no. 6; pp. 1318 - 1321 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK
The Wildlife Society
01.08.2008
Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | We quantified indirect effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on ground-dwelling herpetofauna and invertebrates in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio, USA. We placed cover boards at 12 sites, each consisting of a 10 × 10-m fenced (exclosure) plot and an unfenced (control) plot. Periodically, during May–December 2004 and May–September 2005, we counted salamanders, snakes, and a variety of invertebrate taxa. Salamander, snake, and gastropod abundance as well as invertebrate richness (no. of species or higher level taxa) were higher in control than exclosure plots. Our findings suggest that management actions taken to regulate deer densities could have the unintended effect of reducing local animal diversity. |
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Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2193/2007-491 istex:E60A6B1D05B1B206D30C21E95E782786464862BD ArticleID:JWMG1148 ark:/67375/WNG-PCVJTQ59-T ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0022-541X 1937-2817 |
DOI: | 10.2193/2007-491 |