Terrestrial Conservation

Name the 6 species of wild deer in the UK

Red, Roe, Fallow, Chinese Water, Muntijac and Sika (only the Red and Roe native)

Why are deer populations increasing uncontrollably

Warmer winters, less infant mortality and no direct predation

What are the social, economic and environmental impacts of increased deer populations

Social: Deer carry tics with Lyme disease and can cause road traffic accidents

Economic: Agricultural impacts, consuming cereals, trampling crops and faecal contamination

Environmental: Threat to woodland biodiversity, woodland planting and regeneration and the governments ambitious woodland expansion targets

What are 4 non-lethal techniques of deer management (with pros and cons)

-Fencing= Pros: protects vegetation from browsing. Cons: expensive, ugly, reduced mobility of other animals, and concerns of welfare

-Chemical Repellents (e.g. Trico)= Pros: Prevents damage to trees, plants and crops. Cons: Requires continual application to individual trees so labour intensive, can be environmentally detrimental, can decrease presence of other animals

-Scaring Devices= Pros: Works short term to initially keep away deer. Cons: Deer habituate to scaring devices so becomes obsolete, can scare away other animals

-Choice of tree species= Pros: Deer do not find it attractive to browse on. Cons: Constrained by objectives and biophysical suitability (don’t want to plant non-native or invasive species).

What is the process of lethal controls in deer management, and what are the restrictions to this technique

Culling is carried out by deer stalkers and recreational hunters, framed as an ethical way to obtain venison. Due to deer being free reign, it is far more ethical, and healthier to eat. However, its associated with elites, has food safety concerns, and the lack of education around the hunting of deer.

Stalkers are territorial and therefore there is a lack for sustainable venison markets- only 31% of respondents stated it would be difficult to collaborate with neighbours to control deer and their impacts

Deer Impact Risk

The cumulative annual deer activity (area use) experienced by an area of woodland across the year

How can we predict deer impact risk

-Allow landowners to anticipate how landscape level changes in tree cover affect the distribution of impact risk to woodlands

-Facilitate landscape scale collaboration

-Enable more targeted allocation of limited management resources

Challenges of predicting deer impact risk

-Patchy data prevents model training (deer densities, impacts)

-Enormous scientific literature and knowledge needed (high degree of context dependence in ecological relationships) so not accessible to regular landowners

-Extrapolating to future landscapes (novel landscape configuration and species assemblages), we don’t know if current models will be representative of future populations

The BBN Model

Consists of key processes variables that represent ecological processes related to energy acquisition and loss, and the associated habitat requirements for nutritional resources and shelter. It's an iterative process with expert informed knowledge

What does a risk map highlight in the context of deer impact risk

-Deer impact risk can be highly variable within landscapes across England and Wales

-Woodland vulnerability depends heavily on landscape context

-The distribution of deer impact risk across a landscape can change when new woodlands are created