Deer prevent forests from regrowing on abandoned farmland by consuming saplings and depleting the "seedbank" in the soil, an 18-year Cornell study finds. But while high deer density halts reforestation, it unexpectedly boosts overall plant diversity by preventing dominant weeds from taking over.
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#DeerImpactOnForests #ReforestationChallenges #SeedbankDepletion #BiodiversityBoost #CornellStudyInsights
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#DeerImpactOnForests #ReforestationChallenges #SeedbankDepletion #BiodiversityBoost #CornellStudyInsights
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Deer impact seedbanks and plant communities over 18 years of post-agricultural succession
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are known to alter the composition of plant communities and the course of secondary succession. We present 18 years of data from a long-term deer exclosure experiment near Ithaca, NY, USA, to evaluate seedbank dynamics…