Document: LID-3-510-192

The interaction of forest management and deer browsing on the vascular plant richness and cover in sugar maple dominated forests of the Winegar Moraine, Upper Michigan.

SZABO, L.* ¹, T.R.CROW ¹, D.S.BUCKLEY ² and E.A.NAUERTZ ³

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA ¹
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 USA ²
USDA Forest Service, North Central Research Station, Rhinelander, WI 54501 USA ³

Abstract:
As the forested landscape of the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan has become increasingly fragmented by land use, the population of white-tailed deer has also increased. Both forest management and deer browsing affect forest composition. To better understand the effects of both on vascular plants in sugar maple dominated forests, we measured species richness and percent cover of the ground-cover vegetation in 10 by 10 m exclosures and unprotected plots in three managed (even-aged, uneven-aged, managing for old growth characteristics) and two unmanaged (second growth, old growth) forests. Measurements were taken in late spring, midsummer, and early fall three, four, and five years after the exclosures were constructed, beginning in 1997 through 1999. Based upon analyses using a repeated measures ANOVA model, consistent and strongly significant differences were found among treatments for both species richness and percent cover. Differences in richness were not statistically significant in response to deer browsing, while cover had weakly significant interactions between management and browsing. Within the timeframe of this study, management treatments accounted for a much larger portion of the total variation in the richness and cover of vascular plants in the ground cover of these northern hardwood forests compared to deer browsing.

Keywords: sugar maple, vascular plants, species richness, percent cover, ANOVA

This abstract is being presented at: 3:30 PM in session:
HERBIVORE EFFECTS ON PLANTS