This blog is devoted to BIOL 6988, a graduate level seminar in the biological sciences at Youngstown State University. While targeted towards graduate students, BIOL 6988 actively incorporates undergraduate participants in their scholastic endeavors in the biological sciences. This blog is intended as a educational tool not just for YSU students and faculty, but for anyone who wishes to contribute to an active-learning environment.
Dr. Renne has a special guest speaker for us this week describing how deer impact our environment. It is my understanding that you will be fawning all over this presentation!
Last Friday we had Dr. Royo present as our guest speaker where he discussed with us how deer have degraded ecological and cultural memories of forests. He mentioned that it is difficult for us to truly understand and imagine what our forests should look like because of the impact the environment has had on the forests. There are a number of causes that have led to the destruction of our forests including deforestation, invasive pests and pathogens, and the overabundance of deer. He displayed to us how fences in the forests have blocked deer from certain areas to show how they impact the wildlife and also discussed how costly these types of setups can be. Another change made that he discussed was that hunting seasons were lengthened to equal times periods for bucks and does to help with decreasing the female population so that population rates could decline. This method worked and displayed a decrease in the population. Dr. Royo did a wonderful job presenting his work and it was interesting to hear how these animals can have such an impact on the forests.
Do you think that there are other forms of wildlife (ex. Elk) that also contribute to the impact on forests? Are there any other actions we could take in order to protect the forests?
Dr. Royo showed how our ecosystems are really intertangled webs of factors where a change in one factor can have rippling effects throughout the whole system. In his case deer overpopulation created negative impacts that he illustrated. As you said, invasive species are known to disrupt local ecosystems they are introduced to. I know invasive insects and plants can and do propose a great threat to our forests. While not local and I'm not sure if forests are directly affected, wild boars are disruptive to ecosystems of the midwest. Dr. Royo really showed how bad the deer can be for the forests. Educating people and being more vigilant about invasive species can protect fragile ecosystems. Hunting laws he showed is one effective method of limiting deer's population, since the common predators of deer are not really around anymore. Other methods may be to control their reproduction, potentially through sterilization or immunocontraception.
Last week's seminar was very insightful. I was happy to be part of the audience during this wonderful presentation on the impacts of invasive plant and animal species and the overabundance of deer on the forests. I agree with Nathan on controlling the reproduction of the deer. Aside reducing their population through hunting,sterilizing them sounds interesting. Sterilization may be effective but can lead to their extinction in the future which will also end up affecting the forest. I am sure there are a lot of studies going on looking into this problem. Hopefully, they come up with a solution soon.
It was interesting listening to Dr. Royos talk. I would never have known that a single specials would affect an entire ecology in such a profound way. I would assume that there are other forms of wildlife that would affect forest ecology. I know that in Florida there are many forms of invasive plants which out compete many native plants and disrupt the local ecology.
In the case of the invasive plants in florida, what we did was remove them from the environment in order to see if they had any cancer potential. We made extracts and tested them on several cancer cell lines.
Dr. Royo's seminar was very educational. I have never really considered the negative effects that deer have on our forests. I think Nate hit the nail on the head when saying that our ecosystems are intertangled webs with rippling effects.
As for the proposed question, I do think that all wildlife would have its own degree of negative effects on the environment. The key idea, exemplified by Dr. Royo's research, is moderation. As mentioned, building fences is just not economically feasible. I think that pushing hunting would upset some people but that seems to be the easiest way to moderate deer populations and restore the livelihood of forest ecology. All considered, I agree with my peers that sterilization may be a very promising option. However, Thywill makes an important point that this may lead to their extinction down the road. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. I think this problem will require a balance and combination of many solutions in order make the forest detriments as minimal as possible.
Dr. Royo's presentation was interesting. Learning about how a single species can wipe out an entire ecosystem was amazing. A deer is such a small, harmless herbivorous animal trying to survive in the wild. Who would even speculate its extensive damage in the ecosystem?
To answer the question, I thing the food chain kind of balance the ecosystem. The ecosystem has its own ways of creating balance to suffice the needs of all its organism. To my understanding the stoppage of wild fires interfered with nature and brought about the imbalance in the ecosystem, thus the impact of deer in diminishing the organism abundance in the ecosystem. Since building fences is expensive, and encouraging many days of hunting upset people, therefore sterilizing them seems like a good option. I agree with Thywill sterilization can lead to extinction of deer in the future. This will be solving one problem in emergence of another. As Nate stated that the ecosystems are intertangled webs with rippling effects.
Like many of the above commenters, I myself had never considered the impact of deer on the environment, nor was I even aware there was an issue. Although, there is an overpopulation of deer, I wonder how much of this is attributed to deforestation by humans to make land usable for housing, industry, and commercial. Sterilization could be a promising approach, but the methodology and budget behind it could be difficult. This is definitely an issue in our world, that deserves additional attention. Creating a public presence of this issue allows more minds in the mix to think of potential solutions.
Again, sorry I am late to the discussion here. I thought Dr. Royo's talk was very interesting and the comparisons he made between Alzheimer's and the current ecological issues that our forest ecosystems are going through was intriguing. As for the question, there is probably a good balance of organisms out there that cause harm and good to these ecosystems, however the major organism that is currently throwing off this homeostatic balance (as far as I am aware of) are these deer. I believe that the overpopulation issue of the deer can be again corrected by adding more hunters to this food chain. However, regulations of hunting seasons will again need to be adjusted in order for this change to begin, and hopefully it does soon.
Last Friday we had Dr. Royo present as our guest speaker where he discussed with us how deer have degraded ecological and cultural memories of forests. He mentioned that it is difficult for us to truly understand and imagine what our forests should look like because of the impact the environment has had on the forests. There are a number of causes that have led to the destruction of our forests including deforestation, invasive pests and pathogens, and the overabundance of deer. He displayed to us how fences in the forests have blocked deer from certain areas to show how they impact the wildlife and also discussed how costly these types of setups can be. Another change made that he discussed was that hunting seasons were lengthened to equal times periods for bucks and does to help with decreasing the female population so that population rates could decline. This method worked and displayed a decrease in the population. Dr. Royo did a wonderful job presenting his work and it was interesting to hear how these animals can have such an impact on the forests.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that there are other forms of wildlife (ex. Elk) that also contribute to the impact on forests? Are there any other actions we could take in order to protect the forests?
Dr. Royo showed how our ecosystems are really intertangled webs of factors where a change in one factor can have rippling effects throughout the whole system. In his case deer overpopulation created negative impacts that he illustrated. As you said, invasive species are known to disrupt local ecosystems they are introduced to. I know invasive insects and plants can and do propose a great threat to our forests. While not local and I'm not sure if forests are directly affected, wild boars are disruptive to ecosystems of the midwest.
ReplyDeleteDr. Royo really showed how bad the deer can be for the forests. Educating people and being more vigilant about invasive species can protect fragile ecosystems. Hunting laws he showed is one effective method of limiting deer's population, since the common predators of deer are not really around anymore. Other methods may be to control their reproduction, potentially through sterilization or immunocontraception.
Last week's seminar was very insightful. I was happy to be part of the audience during this wonderful presentation on the impacts of invasive plant and animal species and the overabundance of deer on the forests.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nathan on controlling the reproduction of the deer. Aside reducing their population through hunting,sterilizing them sounds interesting. Sterilization may be effective but can lead to their extinction in the future which will also end up affecting the forest. I am sure there are a lot of studies going on looking into this problem. Hopefully, they come up with a solution soon.
It was interesting listening to Dr. Royos talk. I would never have known that a single specials would affect an entire ecology in such a profound way. I would assume that there are other forms of wildlife that would affect forest ecology. I know that in Florida there are many forms of invasive plants which out compete many native plants and disrupt the local ecology.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of the invasive plants in florida, what we did was remove them from the environment in order to see if they had any cancer potential. We made extracts and tested them on several cancer cell lines.
Dr. Royo's seminar was very educational. I have never really considered the negative effects that deer have on our forests. I think Nate hit the nail on the head when saying that our ecosystems are intertangled webs with rippling effects.
ReplyDeleteAs for the proposed question, I do think that all wildlife would have its own degree of negative effects on the environment. The key idea, exemplified by Dr. Royo's research, is moderation. As mentioned, building fences is just not economically feasible. I think that pushing hunting would upset some people but that seems to be the easiest way to moderate deer populations and restore the livelihood of forest ecology. All considered, I agree with my peers that sterilization may be a very promising option. However, Thywill makes an important point that this may lead to their extinction down the road. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. I think this problem will require a balance and combination of many solutions in order make the forest detriments as minimal as possible.
Dr. Royo's presentation was interesting. Learning about how a single species can wipe out an entire ecosystem was amazing. A deer is such a small, harmless herbivorous animal trying to survive in the wild. Who would even speculate its extensive damage in the ecosystem?
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question, I thing the food chain kind of balance the ecosystem. The ecosystem has its own ways of creating balance to suffice the needs of all its organism. To my understanding the stoppage of wild fires interfered with nature and brought about the imbalance in the ecosystem, thus the impact of deer in diminishing the organism abundance in the ecosystem. Since building fences is expensive, and encouraging many days of hunting upset people, therefore sterilizing them seems like a good option. I agree with Thywill sterilization can lead to extinction of deer in the future. This will be solving one problem in emergence of another. As Nate stated that the ecosystems are intertangled webs with rippling effects.
Like many of the above commenters, I myself had never considered the impact of deer on the environment, nor was I even aware there was an issue. Although, there is an overpopulation of deer, I wonder how much of this is attributed to deforestation by humans to make land usable for housing, industry, and commercial. Sterilization could be a promising approach, but the methodology and budget behind it could be difficult. This is definitely an issue in our world, that deserves additional attention. Creating a public presence of this issue allows more minds in the mix to think of potential solutions.
ReplyDeleteAgain, sorry I am late to the discussion here. I thought Dr. Royo's talk was very interesting and the comparisons he made between Alzheimer's and the current ecological issues that our forest ecosystems are going through was intriguing. As for the question, there is probably a good balance of organisms out there that cause harm and good to these ecosystems, however the major organism that is currently throwing off this homeostatic balance (as far as I am aware of) are these deer. I believe that the overpopulation issue of the deer can be again corrected by adding more hunters to this food chain. However, regulations of hunting seasons will again need to be adjusted in order for this change to begin, and hopefully it does soon.
ReplyDelete