Effects of stand structure and ungulates on understory vegetation in managed and unmanaged forests.

Conventional conservation policies in Europe notably rely on the passive restoration of natural forest dynamics by setting aside forest areas to preserve forest biodiversity. However, since forest reserves cover only a small proportion of the territory, conservation policies also require complementary conservation efforts in managed forests in order to achieve the biodiversity targets set up in the Convention on Biological Diversity. Conservation measures also raise the question of large herbivore management in and around set-asides, particularly regarding their impact on understory vegetation.

Deer exclusion unveils abiotic filtering in forest understorey plant assemblages.

Background And Aims: The role of deer (family Cervidae) in ecosystem functioning has traditionally been neglected by forest ecologists due to the animal's scarcity in most parts of the northern hemisphere. However, the dramatic rebound in deer populations throughout the 20th century has brought deer browsing to the forefront of forest ecological questioning. Today there is ample evidence that deer affect tree regeneration, understorey plant and animal diversity, and even litter decomposition.

Endozoochorous dispersal by herbivores and omnivores is mediated by germination conditions.

Background: Vertebrate-mediated seed dispersal is probably the main long distance dispersal mode. Through endozoochory, large mammals act as mobile links between habitats within and among forest patches. Along with other factors, their feeding regimes do affect their contribution as dispersal vectors.

The role of ungulates in nowadays temperate forests. A response to Fløjgaard et al. (DOI:10.1111/gcb.14029).

In Boulanger et al. (2018), we investigated the effects of ungulates on forest plant diversity. By suggesting a revisit of our conclusions regarding ecosystem dynamics since the late Pleistocene, Fløjgaard et al.

Epizoochorous dispersal by ungulates depends on fur, grooming and social interactions.

The transport phase of the animal-mediated plant dispersal process is critical to dispersal effectiveness as it determines the spatial distribution of the diaspores released and their chance for further recruitment. Assessing this specific phase of the dispersal process generally requires combining diaspore retention times with the associated distances covered. Here, we specifically tested the effect of grooming behavior, interindividual contacts and ungulate fur on diaspore retention times and associated dispersal distances for the hooked diaspores of L.

Ungulates increase forest plant species richness to the benefit of non-forest specialists.

Large wild ungulates are a major biotic factor shaping plant communities. They influence species abundance and occurrence directly by herbivory and plant dispersal, or indirectly by modifying plant-plant interactions and through soil disturbance. In forest ecosystems, researchers' attention has been mainly focused on deer overabundance.

Temporal dynamics of seed excretion by wild ungulates: implications for plant dispersal.

Dispersal is a key process in metapopulation dynamics as it conditions species' spatial responses to gradients of abiotic and biotic conditions and triggers individual and gene flows. In the numerous plants that are dispersed through seed consumption by herbivores (endozoochory), the distance and effectiveness of dispersal is determined by the combined effects of seed retention time in the vector's digestive system, the spatial extent of its movements, and the ability of the seeds to germinate once released. Estimating these three parameters from experimental data is therefore crucial to calibrate mechanistic metacommunity models of plant-herbivore interactions.