Team: It was a pleasure working with a great team from @econovoau.bsky.social, the Bavarian Forest NP and @wild-ecol-cons.bsky.social, including @andrewabraham.bsky.social, Walter Di Nicola, Uriel Gélin, Martin Gahbauer, Marco Heurich and Elizabeth le Roux. (5/5)

Takeaway: A solution to one problem (deer-human conflict) may inadvertently shift landscape chemistry and compromise conservation goals, highlighting the need to critically evaluate all potential consequences of common management approaches such as supplementary feeding. (4/5)

Why it matters: These elevated nutrients could cascade through the ecosystem and for example affect soil microbial activity, alter plant communities, and even affect other herbivores. (3/5)

Setup & findings: In the Bavarian Forest NP (and many other places), managers use winter feeding to manage deer populations. We found this raises plant nutrient levels not just at feeding sites, but hundreds of meters beyond. Read the full paper for more detail!

(2/5)

With Bent Rech, @jcsvenning.bsky.social , @matthiaswaltert.bsky.social,
@robertoruggiero.bsky.social, Robert Buitenwerf, @econovoau.bsky.social @consbiogoe.bsky.social

We also find that herbivores use more of the area in winter, highlighting the importance of year-round compared to summer grazing. This aligns nicely with a recent paper by @skjoldsoendergaard.bsky.social, finding higher plant richness under year-round but not summer grazing.
doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Our findings show that large herbivores complement each other in their habitat use, therefore reintroducing more diverse herbivore assemblages likely maximizes desired ecological impacts such as increased habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity.