Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T05:38:27.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Red deer exclusion and saxicolous cryptogam community structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2014

Oliver MOORE  and
Michael J. CRAWLEY
Oliver MOORE
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berks, SL5 7PY, UK. Email: o.moore10@imperial.ac.uk
Michael J. CRAWLEY
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berks, SL5 7PY, UK. Email: o.moore10@imperial.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Deer exclosure is an important management strategy for encouraging woodland regeneration in the presence of high numbers of Cervus elaphus L. This could pose a threat to important saxicolous lichen communities as a result of competition from bryophytes and other vegetation. This investigation compared the bryophyte and lichen communities associated with siliceous rock outcrops and boulders inside and outside a number of exclosures in wet heath vegetation at the Gruinard, Letterewe and Little Gruinard estates in Wester Ross. Species cover data were recorded from 6600·2×0·2 m quadrats, allocated to three different aspects of rocks, from 22 pairs of plots (placed either side of a deer fence) with randomization at each level of this hierarchy. The data were analyzed using linear mixed effects models. Mean lichen cover, diversity and species richness were significantly lower in quadrats on rocks within the exclosures. Mean bryophyte cover was significantly higher in quadrats on rocks inside the deer fence and was shown to have a highly significant negative relationship with total lichen cover. Saxicolous lichen species are particularly affected by the increase in shading and litter accumulation from the surrounding plants and the subsequent growth of bryophytes and heath vegetation on rocks within the exclosures. The results of this study have implications for the use of exclosures at locations where there are important saxicolous lichen communities.

Keywords

Cervus elaphusgrazinglichenssiliceous rockspecies diversityspecies richnesssuccession
Type
Articles
Information
The Lichenologist , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , March 2014 , pp. 229 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © British Lichen Society 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Air Pollution Information System (2013) Nitrogen deposition data. http://www.apis.ac.uk/ Site accessed 20/07/2013.Google Scholar
Bates, J. W. (1992) Influence of chemical and physical factors on Quercus and Fraxinus epiphytes at Loch Sunart, western Scotland: a multivariate analysis. Journal of Ecology 80: 163–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobbink, R., Braun, S., Nordin, A., Power, S., Schütz, K., Strengbom, J., Weitjers, M. & Tomassen, H. (2011) Review and revision of empirical critical loads and dose-response relationships. Proceedings of an expert workshop, Noordwijkerhout, 23–25 June 2010. RIVPM Report: 680359002. Bilthoven, The Netherlands: Coordination Centre for Effects, RIVM.Google Scholar
British Geological Survey (1962) Inverbroom – Sheet 92. Southampton: Ordnance Survey.Google Scholar
Church, J. M., Coppins, B. J., Gilbert, O. L., James, P. W. & Stewart, N. F. (1996) British Red Data Books: Lichens. Volume 1: Britain. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservancy Council.Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, T. H., Coulson, T. & Milner, J. M. (2004) Red deer stocks in the Highlands of Scotland. Nature 429: 261–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppins, B. J. (2003) Lichen conservation in Scotland. Botanical Journal of Scotland 55: 27–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawley, M. J. (2013) The R Book Second Edition. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Fletcher, A. (2001) Lowland rocks and lichens. In Lichen Habitat Management (Fletcher, A., Wolseley, P. & Woods, R., eds): 10.1–10.5. London: British Lichen Society.Google Scholar
Fryday, A. M. (1996) The lichen vegetation of some previously overlooked high-level habitats in North Wales. Lichenologist 28: 521–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fryday, A. M. (2001) Effects of grazing animals on upland/montane lichen vegetation in Great Britain. Botanical Journal of Scotland 53: 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, O. (2000) Lichens. London: HarperCollins Publishers.Google Scholar
James, P. W., Hawksworth, D. L. & Rose, F. (1977) Lichen communities in the British Isles: a preliminary conspectus. In Lichen Ecology (Seaward, M. R. D., ed.): 31–68. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Karlsson, P. E., Ferm, M., Tømmervik, H., Hole, L. R., Pihl Karlsson, G., Ruoho-Airola, T., Aas, W., Hellsten, S., Akselsson, C., Nørgaard Mikkelsen, T. et al. (2013) Biomass burning in eastern Europe during spring 2006 caused high deposition of ammonium in northern Fennoscandia. Environmental Pollution 176: 71–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lange, O. L., Green, T. G. A. & Heber, U. (2001) Hydration-dependent photosynthetic production of lichens: what do laboratory studies tell us about field performance? Journal of Experimental Botany 52: 2033–2042.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meteorological Office (2013) UK mapped climate averages. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/ukmapavge.html. Site accessed 20/07/2013.Google Scholar
Milner, R., Alexander, J. & Griffin, C. (2002) A Highland Deer Herd and its Habitat. London: Red Lion House.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B., Truscot, A. M., Leith, I. D., Cape, J. N., Van Duk, N., Tang, Y. S., Fowler, D. & Sutton, M. A. (2005) A study of the epiphytic communities of Atlantic oak woods along an atmospheric nitrogen deposition gradient. Journal of Ecology 93: 482–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, O. & Crawley, M. J. (2014) The impact of red deer management on cryptogam ecology in vegetation typical of northwest Scotland. Plant Ecology and Diversity. (in press) Doi: 10.1080/17550874.2013.848242 Google Scholar
Orange, A. (2009) Saxicolous lichen and bryophyte communities in Upland Britain. Joint Nature Conservation Committee Report No. 404. Peterborough: JNCC.Google Scholar
Pellerin, S., Huot, J. & Côté, S. D. (2006) Long-term effects of deer browsing and trampling on the vegetation of peatlands. Biological Conservation 128: 316–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porley, R. & Hodgetts, N. (2005) Mosses and Liverworts. London: HarperCollins Publishers.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team (2010) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, P. R. & Staines, B. W. (2003) Deer management requirements for the delivery of Natura 2000 objectives in Atlantic Oakwoods. In Restoring Natural Forest Habitats (Caledonian Partnership, ed.): 33–39. Munlochy: Highland Birchwoods.Google Scholar
Rodwell, J. S. (1991) British Plant Communities Volume 2: Mires and Heaths. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rydin, H. (2009) Population and community ecology of bryophytes. In Bryophyte Biology, 2nd Edition (Goffinet, B. & Shaw, J. A., eds): 393–444. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, D. B. A., Galbraith, H. & Horsfield, D. (1987) Ecology and resources of Britain's mountain plateaux: land use conflicts and impacts. In Agriculture and Conservation in the Hills and Uplands (Bell, M. & Bunce, R. G. H., eds): 22–31. Grange-over-Sands: Institute of Terrestrial Ecology.Google Scholar
Virtanen, R., Edwards, G. R. & Crawley, M. J. (2002) Red deer management and vegetation on the Isle of Rum. Journal of Applied Ecology 39: 572–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, C. (2009) Managing Scotland's Environment. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weibull, H. & Rydin, H. (2005) Bryophyte species richness on boulders: relationship to area, habitat diversity and canopy tree species. Biological Conservation 122: 71–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Moore supplementary material

Moore supplementary material

Download Moore supplementary material(File)
File 346.2 KB