Abstract
Understory vegetation in forests retains nitrogen and mitigates soil runoff. Deer overgrazing impairs these ecosystem functions and thus indirectly affects aquatic environments. This chapter summarizes the state of knowledge of overgrazing effects on forested streams of headwater to downstream (first- to fourth-order streams). A 10-year monitoring program assessed water chemistry in an exclosure catchment (EC) and a control catchment (CC) and found that deer-induced understory degradation related to increased exports of nitrate and suspended sediments from hillslopes to streams. Four years after the construction of the EC’s deer-exclusion fence, sedimentation and a macroinvertebrate community dominated by burrowers were observed in the first-order streams in the CC, but not in the second-order streams. Eleven years of fish community monitoring in a fourth-order stream documented an increase in a benthic fish species and a simultaneous decrease in a water-column-dwelling species that preferentially utilizes pebble-cobble-dominated streambeds for spawning. Together, these results show that the magnitude of overgrazing impacts varies both spatially and temporally as a result of sediment transport and deposition processes. Our results emphasize the importance of catchment-scale ecosystem-management approaches and an interdisciplinary approach that includes ecology, hydrology, and fluvial geomorphology in mitigating the impacts of overgrazing on stream ecosystems.
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Sakai, M., Fukushima, K., Nakagawa, H. (2022). Indirect Effects of Deer Overgrazing on Stream Ecosystems. In: Kaji, K., Uno, H., Iijima, H. (eds) Sika Deer: Life History Plasticity and Management. Ecological Research Monographs. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9554-4_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9554-4_27
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