Top-down and bottom-up forces explain patch utilization by two deer species and forest recruitment.

ABSTRACT: Ungulates play an important role in temperate systems. Through their feeding behaviour, they can respond to vegetation by selecting patches or modify vegetation composition by herbivory. The degree in which they interact with vegetation can either reinforce landscape heterogeneity by creating disturbance or reduce heterogeneity in case of overbrowsing. This study evaluates how bottom-up (patch quality, structure), top-down forces (hunting, distance to village, forest edge) and deer features (feeding type, abundance) mediate patch utilization in a temperate forest and assess the implications of patch utilization and light on forest recruitment. Theory predicts that animals seek to maximize their energetic gains by food intake while minimizing the costs associated to foraging, such as the en

SUBMITTER: Ramirez JI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9813088 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature