Deer control

History of deer colonization - Response of vegetation to deer - Response of animals to deer and squirrel - Deer biology

Menu: Home; Haida Gwaii; Introduced Species; RGIS; What did we learn?; Research; Publications; RGIS symposium; School curriculum; Contacts


English
Français

Effect of browsing history on the vegetation - Effects of chemical defences on deer browsing - Effects of reduced plant abundance on pollination - Effect of hunting on tree regeneration - Effect of prolonged deer population reduction on the vegetation

Effect of prolonged deer population reduction on the vegetation

Exclosures experiments - Deer cull experiments

To test the validity of the conclusions drawn from our comparative study and to study the recovery trajectories in the event of a reduction in browsing pressure we launched two long term experiments.

exclosures that excluded deer from small areas.
culls that dramatically reduced deer populations on two islands

Exclosures experiments

Twenty 5 by 5 m exclosures were built in 1997 in 10 sites (2 exclosures by site) situated in old growth forest patches distributed over Graham Island. Vegetation inside the exclosures was entirely protected from deer. These exclosures are maintained regularly.

Deer cull experiments

Culling deer at the scale of an island is expected to provide information not only about the changes in vegetation, but also about the changes in animal communities.

Deer culls were conducted on two islands (Reef and SGang Gwayy), both remote enough to slow down deer immigration from others islands.
The changes in the vegetation on Reef and SGang Gwayy islands were compared to the changes documented on control sites located in the same area, respectively Kunga and Louscoone Point, with some additional control plots on East Limestone island.

In 1997, major hunts reduced deer populations by 90% on the study islands.

Other hunts were conducted periodically between 1997 and 2007 in order to maintain deer populations at a low level.

return to top of page