Odocoileus virginianus

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) represents one of the most successful and widely distributed large mammal species within North America. White-tailed deer occurs from southern Canada south through most of the U.S. and Mexico to South America (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, northern Brazil, Venezuela, and the Guianas). It has been introduced in Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Finland and New Zealand. Deer herds in Canada and mainly in the United states are overabundant, but in Mexico, Central America and South America most of the populations are declining and most of the subspecies status are unknown. Range has expanded northward farther into Canada as a result of habitat changes caused by humans. White-tailed deer inhabit a wide range of habitats, from north temperate to subtropical and semi-arid environments in North Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons (User: USDA - Scott Bauer) America and include rainforests, deciduous forests, savannas of will decrease, (ii) species richness and diversity will increase, (iii) Central America and northern South America. Its requirements the abundance of browse-sensitive plant taxa will increase, and (iv) are met in practically every ecological type including grasslands, prairies and plains, mountains, hardwoods, coniferous and species of deer browsing will increase. tropical forests, deserts, and even in woodlots associated with White-tailedflowering, height, deer cover,were introducedand density to of Saint recognized Pierre browseand Miquelon indicator in farmland. 1953 for hunting purposes. Here they have very serious impacts on White-tailed deer over-browsing has altered plant species forest regeneration, particularly that of balsam (Abies balsamea), diversity throughout deciduous forest understories in eastern which may be compromised when densities of this game animal North America. Royo et al 2010 who tracked the herbaceous exceed the capacity of the environment to cope. The situation is now critical in some sectors. It is one of the most serious threats to predicted that following deer herd reductions: (i) browse impact biodiversity in the archipelago. community response to deer herd reductions specifically References: Gallina, S. & Lopez Arevalo, H. 2008. Odocoileus virginianus. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. [link] Muller, S. 2006. Conservation de la biodiversité à Saint Pierre et Miquelon. Rapport de mission dans l’archipel. Ministère de l’Ecologie et du Développement Durable. Université Paul Verlaine-Metz. 33 p Royo A. Alejandro, Susan L. Stout, David S. deCalesta, Timothy G. Pierson, 2010. Restoring forest herb communities through landscape-level deer herd reductions: Is recovery limited by legacy effects? Biological Conservation Volume 143, Issue 11, Click here to view archives of previous weeks’ species November 2010, Pages 2425-2434