Stromayer and Warren examined the evidence describing white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) browsing impacts on woody vegetation communities in the eastern United States, and revealed 3 possible mechanisms (fire followed by deer browsing; clearcutting followed by deer browsing; and sustained, long-term suppression of regeneration approaching local extirpation) for the creation of deer-induced alternate stable states in northern temperate forests. There are other situations in which browsing by deer might combine with effects of climate change or disturbance factors on woody vegetation to create alternate stable states. These would include factors such as bark stripping and seed predation. Such factors might function alone or, more likely, in combination with other perturbations such as herbicide use, timber harvesting, fire, storms, and drought. The authors caution that without careful experimental studies designed to differentiate the impact of deer browsing from other factors such as succession, climate change, or disease, deer-induced changes to vegetation may go unrecognized. The trend of increasing deer populations in many parts of the eastern U.S. suggests that the ecological effects of deer on plant communities may intensify in the future.
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