[MAIPC] Choosy deer choose.....natives

John Ambler john.ambler at verizon.net
Mon May 2 18:27:53 PDT 2016


I too have seen many short multiflora shoots and small winged euonymus from deer browsing.  This was in places with high deer densities due to hunting not being allowed at a former Boys Club camp and at Lancaster County Central Park.  But there are also large plants of these species also present.

 

In the county park in the fall, I pull small Oriental bittersweet, privets, Amur honeysuckle, Japanese barberry, and Norway maple.  I have never seen them browsed.  The park regenerates a lot of sugar maple saplings, but I have not noticed them browsed.  I would be good to do careful browsing surveys.   Hackberry is one of the most common saplings, so it probably is not preferred browse.

 

In the rich woods at Tucquan Glen in Lancaster County, I see black elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) browsed to the ground every year. 

 

I once went on a deer density/ browsing study at Governor Dick Park, an 1100 acre forested area near Mt. Gretna, PA where deer hunting had been forbidden by deed.  The forest was very depleted of regenerating shrubs & trees due to heavy browsing.  The PA state forester doing the browsing assessment noted that Spicebush was one of the main plants browsed.  He said that it is one of the least favored browse species and indicated heavy browsing.  He said that Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium) is one of the most favored woody species for browse. 

 

 

Here is an excellent reference about deer browse preferences from United States Department of Agriculture.

 

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/2014/NA-IN-02-14_WhitetailedDeerNEForestsWEB.pdf

 

White-tailed Deer in Northeastern Forests:  Understanding and Assessing Impacts

 

Here is a useful study:  http://www.deerandforests.org/resources/ratings-of-white-tailed-deer-preferences-for-woody-browse-in-indiana

 

They asked foresters etc. to rate trees and shrubs for deer preference and then analyzed and summarized the reports.

 

John Ambler

Lancaster, PA

 

From: MAIPC [mailto:maipc-bounces at lists.maipc.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Hiltner
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2016 5:12 PM
To: MAIPSC listserv
Subject: Re: [MAIPC] Choosy deer choose.....natives

 

This sentence in the article is curious: "But other invasive, introduced plants -- Oriental bittersweet, European privet, and Morrow's honeysuckle, and a native plant, red maple -- were highly preferred by deer." 

 

In Princeton, NJ, the deer can often keep multiflora rose and winged euonymus from growing back after being cut to the ground. Nice to have that assistance. They don't appear to be interested in privet, honeysuckle or Asian photinia. 




PrincetonNatureNotes.org

Newscompanion.com.

 

On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 3:34 PM, Ossi, Damien (DOEE) <damien.ossi at dc.gov> wrote:

Here in DC I have noticed that deer will never browse on English ivy on the ground, but will browse on arborescent English ivy.  There’s usually a distinct browse line on trees that have English ivy vines growing up them, and they will browse the ivy on fallen trees.  I wonder if the leaves become palatable when they change from the trefoil shape to the spade shape on arborescent, reproductive ivy?  

 

Of course, our deer—at a population density of 80/mile^2—may be pretty desperate for food items, but they ignore the English ivy (and periwinkle and wintercreeper and pachysandra and lesser celandine and honeysuckle) that carpets the ground in some of our natural areas.

 

Damien

 

Damien P. Ossi

Wildlife Biologist

Fisheries and Wildlife Division

Department of Energy & Environment

Government of the District of Columbia

1200 First Street NE, 5th Floor

Washington, DC 20002

Desk: (202) 741-0840 <tel:%28202%29%20741-0840> 

Web: doee.dc.gov <http://www.doee.dc.gov/> 

 

 

 

From: MAIPC [mailto:maipc-bounces at lists.maipc.org] On Behalf Of Steve Young
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2016 8:55 AM
To: MAIPSC listserv
Cc: Antonio DiTommaso; Kristine M Averill; Carrie Jean Brown-Lima; Dave Mortensen
Subject: [MAIPC] Choosy deer choose.....natives

 

Taste test? Deer preferences seem to be helping non-native invasive plants spread <http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/invasive_species/~3/4yw3dx6RKdc/160428122502.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email> 

Steve

 


_______________________________________________
MAIPC mailing list
MAIPC at lists.maipc.org
http://lists.maipc.org/listinfo.cgi/maipc-maipc.org

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.maipc.org/pipermail/maipc-maipc.org/attachments/20160502/2b4bc57c/attachment-0001.htm>


More information about the MAIPC mailing list