Thomas Stokely, Urs Kormann, Matthew G. Betts Oregon State - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Interactions among intensive forest management, early‐seral plant communities and deer and elk in the Oregon Coast Range

Thomas Stokely, Urs Kormann, Matthew G. Betts

Oregon State University College of Forestry

Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society

1) Interactive effects of herbivory and herbicide on plant communities 2) Ecosystem services of deer and elk in managed plantations 3) Effects of intensive forest management on stand use by deer and elk

Cervids: Hungry Hungry Herbivores

Deer and elk are highly selective Selectivity is based on forage availability Strong effects on plant communities Plant competition and herbivory Mediated by disturbance and plant community characteristics

Disturbance and early-seral communities

HERBICIDES

Finding Forage in Managed Forests

Hypotheses: Interactions between IFM, plant communities and deer and elk

Hypotheses:

1) Herbivory should exacerbate the effects

• f IFM where forage has

been diminished by herbicides 2) Deer and elk should provide an ecosystem service when forage is retained and a disservice where forage is diminished 3) Stand use should be reduced where forage has been diminished by herbicides

Control Light Moderate Intensive 2010 2012 2011 2013 2014

Planted

~1100 trees/ha

Broadleaf spray

Site preparation

Broadleaf spray

Site preparation

Planted

~1100 trees/ha

Planted

~1100 trees/ha

Planted

~1100 trees/ha

Herbaceous spray Herbaceous spray Herbaceous spray Herbaceous spray Broadleaf release spray Broadleaf release spray Herbaceous spray Broadleaf release spray

HERBICIDE TREATMENTS

Big-leaf maple where needed

Methods: Experimental Design

1) Abundance of plant species – forage and non- forage species 3) Camera Trap Captures – detections per day 2) Conifer Regeneration – Volume and Survival

Methods: Data Collection

Plant Community: 2012

Plant Community: 2015

Native and non-native early-seral

CONTROL LIGHT MODERATE INTENSIVE

Natives vs. Non-natives

X = Deer and elk excluded O = Open to deer and elk

Forage

Year Year Year

Forage Cover

11 12 13 14 15

Control Light Moderate Intensive

11 12 13 14 15 11 12 13 14 15 11 12 13 14 15 Forage cover

Year Deer and elk excluded Open to deer and elk

Deer and elk detections

Proportion Browsed Year Browsed Douglas-fir

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Crop-tree Volume

Control Light Moderate Intensive

11 12 13 14 15 11 12 13 14 15 11 12 13 14 15 11 12 13 14 15

Tree Volume (cm³) Year Year Deer and elk excluded Open to deer and elk

Plant Communities

Light and Control: Highest forage production, most resistant to changes in community composition Moderate and Intensive: reduction in natives, increase in non-natives with herbivory Forage reduced by herbivory among all stands by 2015

Plantation Development

Ecosystem service in Intensive stands Possible disservice in Light stands Competition and herbivores

Beyond the browse line _____

Cervid Stand Use

Variability in elk herds, use

• f open stands & distance

sampling Deer and brushy habitats Landscape-scale early-seral Other factors (e.g. hunting, predator populations)

1) Forage removed among all treatments – altered native/non-native composition with herbicides and herbivory 2) Ecosystem services of herbivory in Intensive, potential disservice in Light herbicide treatments – altered completion 3) Stand-use highly variable: forage, detection and landscape conditions important variables of interest

Acknowledgements

IFM Primary Investigators

• J. Verschuyl, AJ Kroll, U. Kormann, S. Harris, D. Frey, J. Hatten, D. Maguire

Cooperating forest managers and biologists

• M. Rochelle, J. Bakke, J. Johnson, S. Keniston, J. DeRoss, R. Frazzini, A. Heimgartner, T.

McBride, J. Theimens, A. Weathers, M. Taylor, J. Travers, D. Irons, J. Light Cooperating companies and agencies Weyerhaeuser, Co., Hancock Forest Management, Oregon Department of Forestry Funders USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, Oregon Forest Industries Council, OSU College of Forestry: Noble Foundation, Giustina Foundation, Fish and Wildlife in Managed Forests Program and Institute for Working Forest Landscapes Research technicians

• A. Kern, E. Ireland, S. Gilsdorf, E. McClelland, S. Alanko, S. Gilsdorf, D. Jones, A. Turner,
• J. Scott, J. Baldwin, J. Hannon, M. Vernon, T. Hruska, M. Hovland, T. Laird, D. Uzes, A.

Comstock, P. Callahan, D. Meuse, C. Adlam, T. Schrautemeyer, B. Gholson, K. Soderland, J. Walrod, E. McDougal, M. Silbernagel, A. Randazzo, L. Sherman, J. Gibson, J. Miller, P. Bruce, K. Ray, Keiran Woolley, A. Gunsulus, E. Beuttenuller, C. Mathis

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