Finding the Trophic Trickle: Using Herbaceous Indicator Species to Investigate Plant Recovery from Intense Browsing by White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) after The Re-colonization of A Top Predator (Canis Lupus)

• Main Author: Bouchard, Krystle A.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: CORE Scholar 2009
• Subjects: Department of Biological Sciences; Trophic Cascades; Canis Lupis; Odocoileus Virginianus; Biology; Life Sciences; Canis lupus; gray wolf
• Online Access: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/etd_all/772; https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1911&context=etd_all

High densities of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have been implicated in changing forest community structure and composition. Top predators, including gray wolf (Canis lupus), were extirpated from much of their range by the mid 1900s, but have since returned to Northern Wisconsin. To determine whether the re-colonization of wolves could initiate a trophic cascade resulting in the recovery of understory plants from deer browsing, I surveyed four herbaceous species in areas without wolves and areas with 4-6 year old wolf packs and 12-13 year old wolf packs. Plant size and reproduction were greater in areas where wolves had been for 12-13 years compared to areas where wolves were absent. Plant size structure shifted toward larger plants in response to wolves. Lack of a significant response in the 4-6 year vegetation indicates a lag time in the trophic cascade.