This article examines the impacts of white-tailed deer browsing on invasive plant species, both of these are biotic stressors that impact many forest ecosystems. Researchers in this study used a 4 hectare deer exclosure built in 1991 to study the influence of white-tailed deer, on the abundance of a few invasive and one native plant species, within a 25.6 hectare mature forest plot in the state of Virginia. Their results indicate that high deer density assists in higher abundances of many invasive plant species. They infer that if you decrease …show more content…
It addresses the following the effects of natives species on invasives and the effects of invasive species on natives. Also, this article addresses the major hypothesis that invasive species are generally better competitors in most ecosystems than the native species. After examining several different papers, they found that there are several different opposing results stating that invasive plant species have a greater effect on natives and vice versa. One experiment reported “average losses on native plant biomass of 46.609±0.68%” due to the presence of the invasive plant species. Other experiments reported average losses on invasives of “17.69±1.24% due to the presence of natives.” In conclusion their findings back up my predictions that invasives are overtaking the native species. This helps prove my point that non-native invasive plant species are taking over locations that are home to many native plant species. Both authors of this article have an extensive background in ecology focusing on the ecology of biological invasion and are published in a well-known journal. The results of this article are concurrent to the rest of my previous …show more content…
They studied how deer influenced understory, or ground, vegetation and oak seedling survival following the peak rutting, or breeding, season. In a protected area in North Carolina, researchers examined these effects in several control and exclosure plots. In their results, they determined that deer did not affect understory vegetation and oak survival was low and not influenced by deer. They found evidence that whitetail deer have been falsely accused of habitat degradation or destruction, they found that much of the degradation was due to smaller animals such as rabbits. Overall they believe that a loss of understory and oak seedling is not at all due to deer populations but to other smaller animal species. This relevant to my paper because this study takes place in North Carolina in the middle of the Eastern United States where my paper focuses on. Both of the authors are faculty at the University of North Carolina Wilmington with their doctorates in environmental studies and biology. This article contrasts from my other journal articles stating that deer are not a real concern in over browsing and trampling