This coming Friday, Dr. Renne is scheduled to present his seminar to the department. At this time, he has not submitted his topic, but I have no doubt he will give an excellent and ever so eloquent a talk.
CORRECTION: Presentation Title: "Don't veer for deer, house sparrows, and tallow trees."
The "Big Green Lie", the idea that seeing all the ground foliage means less deer. Deer are problematic at >20 deer/km2. Diversity is the reason we care about the number of deer. Diversity Begets stability - it stabilizes communities, contributes to function, and promotes coevolution. Deer eat the dicot canopy seedlings which causes high fern growth, shrubs, and garlic mustard.
ReplyDeleteDr Renne discussed many ways White Tail Deer are affecting the environment, but he didn't really offer a solution.What solutions are there to reduce the deer population to a more sustainable level? (Besides Dr Renne solution of using his car)
The solution to this problem, in my opinion, is not to reduce the population of white tail deer but rather to increase the population of those plant species that have numerically declined because they are preyed on by white tail deer. One way to increase the population of dicot canopy plants is to transplant their seedlings to a safer and conducive habitat farther away from their predators. This means much research has to be done to find out places that White Tail Deer do not venture to go and also if such places are suitable to support the growth and spread of dicot canopy species. Perhaps this may help. I do not consent to "killing" WTD to reduce their population for ecosystem stability.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a good way to reduce the deer population is the most obvious; kill them. The more complicated question is how to keep it balanced, so the population doesn’t dwindle and eventually become endangered. I can think of a simple idea that may work, but I of course don’t have exact numbers. One option is to just elongate the hunting season or allow hunters to capture more kills per season. Maybe the thought of having a variable season length depending on deer population size is something to think about. The deer gun season is only a week in Ohio. Extending this week to maybe two weeks or longer ensures more deer are taken out of the habitat allowing for more vegetation growth. Another, less aggressive approach is to just replant all of the things that the deer are eating and put them in a fence/cage. If these dicots or other plants are caged, then they cannot be eaten and ensures that they live longer. This would take a lot of work, people and resources to do, but if diversity is a priority then I think it can be done.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I hate to condone the elimination of deer, hunting would be the best option in this case. Even if we plant more species and keep them caged and away from the deer, we will still have a lot of deer and will probably still hit them with our cars. I agree that we should have a longer hunting season and come up with a good ratio of deer to plants.
ReplyDeleteMy point of view is that we must first understand the proper ecological association between White tailed deer, humans and forest where this species of dicots grow. The disappearance of these dicots cannot be solely blamed on the deers. There could be other factors contributing to their disappearance like other competing species within their habitat, soil fertility, other browsing animals, diseases, pollutants and many others. For stability of an ecosystem to be achieved the effects of the above could also be studied. I do not support the idea of killing these deers in order to reduce and manage their population.
ReplyDeleteMy point of view is that we must first understand the proper ecological association between White tailed deer, humans and forest where this species of dicots grow. The disappearance of these dicots cannot be solely blamed on the deers. There could be other factors contributing to their disappearance like other competing species within their habitat, soil fertility, other browsing animals, diseases, pollutants and many others. For stability of an ecosystem to be achieved the effects of the above could also be studied. I do not support the idea of killing these deers in order to reduce and manage their population.
ReplyDeleteI feel, at least in this area, that white tailed deer do not face that many challenges in terms of avoiding predators, and I think that is why the population of the deer is as large as it is. Though we do have coyotes, it may be easier for them to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits or squirrels opposed to deer which are much larger in size. On the other hand, many humans love hunting deer but are restricted by laws, seasons, and the maximum number of deer that they can kill during those seasons. An obvious solution would be to extend the season and increase the number of deer that they can tag. However, though this would reduce the population of the deer, and over time the population may return to a more sustainable level, this would not negate the fact that the deer would still be eating plants and reducing the diversity of plants. An additional measure that may be taken, if it were to obtain funding, would be to set up fenced off areas that exclude deer until the white tailed deer population returns to a more sustainable level.
ReplyDeleteThough I am ordinarily opposed to hunting, I feel that in the case of white-tailed deer it is necessary. With a lack of natural predators thanks to human interference, it falls upon us to correct this imbalance that we have created. Unless we find a way to transport massive amounts of deer to areas without such devastating populations, the most feasible option at this time seems to be hunting. It is critical to control these deer populations sooner rather than later, as we are losing vital biodiversity in these ecosystems.
ReplyDeleteComing from a family who hunts every year, I think it's important to keep in mind that while many don't agree with hunting, there are a lot of reasons why hunting is beneficial. For example, we hunt every year and the deer we kill we use to feed our family, as do a lot of others. I can't remember the last time my family had to buy beef. In addition to hunting for food, it has kept the deer population around my hometown at a lower level. That being said, hunting WTD could kill two birds with one stone, those being helping increase plant diversity while using the meat to help feed those who can't necessarily afford to buy the necessary groceries for themselves. On the other hand, pushing hunting could cause the reverse effect, which would be to lower the WTD population to the point that it becomes unable to compete with it's other predators and could potentially become at risk. I think hunting is the answer, but I don't think it can be pushed without setting strict regulations that may be based on individual deer populations instead of statewide regulations.
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