Contact: Bob Ratliff
Stephen Demarais, Dave Godwin, John J. Phillips, and John Furr
Mississippi State scientists are embarking on a 20-year study of the white-tailed deer's impact on native vegetation and other animals.
The university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center is co-sponsoring the effort with the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, United States Forest Service, Weyerhaeuser Co., and Anderson-Tully Corp.
"With a deer population of 1.75 million in Mississippi, the goal of our study will be to determine the effects of overabundant deer on the forest environment and on habitat quality for all wildlife species," said MSU deer specialist Stephen Demarais.
Demarais, an associate professor of wildlife and fisheries, and MSU wildlife biologist Bruce Leopold will lead a team of graduate students in the investigation.
Data already is being collected in and around exclosures, areas of five to eight acres surrounded by eight-foot-tall, high-tensile mesh fencing. Located in three national forests, the exclosures will exclude deer so the vegetation inside can be compared with the vegetation outside that has been damaged by foraging deer.
Exclosures have been constructed in the DeSoto National Forest's Leaf River Wildlife Management Area in Perry County; Delta National Forest's Sunflower Wildlife Management Area in Sharkey County; and Tombigbee National Forest's Choctaw Wildlife Management Area in Choctaw and Winston counties.
"Studies in other parts of the country have researched the effects of deer on plant communities, but data on long-term browsing effects in Mississippi are limited," Demarais said. Baseline data were collected earlier this year and will be resampled over a two-season period every five years, he added.
The MSU team will measure deer impact both on native plant populations and timber resources because the animal's foraging can impede pine and hardwood regeneration.
Demarais said the exclosures would serve an additional role-demonstration areas for the public to see the deer's effects on natural resources.
For more information, contact Demarais at (662) 325-2618 or sdemaris@cfr.msstate.edu.