Too Much Deer Pee Changing Northern Forests

Livescience.com via Yahoo! News ^ | June 6, 2013 | Becky Oskin

[goodwithagun]

The booming deer population in the northern United States is bad for the animal's beloved hemlocks, a new study finds. During Michigan winters, white-tailed deer converge on stands of young hemlocks for protection from winter chill and predators. The same deer return every year to their favorite clumps of the bushy evergreens, called deeryards. The high concentration of deer in a small space saturates the soils with nitrogen from pee, according to a study published online in the journal Ecology. While deer pee can be a valuable source of nitrogen, a rare and necessary nutrient for plants, some deeryards are now too rich for the hemlocks to grow.

[PeterPrinciple]

And I was going to post that I probably won’t expect to see any hemlocks when I visit Zero’s grave. According to your theory I might after enough time.

[traderrob6]

So when will the government begin selling Pee credits?

[GilesB]

See post #38

[T. P. Pole]

I’d still watch where I step, though.

[stormer]

Without predation to modulate populations, carrying capacity can be exceeded. It’s conceivable that overgrazing can be so severe that plant populations have difficulty recovering and you have a crash. St. Matthews reindeer is a common example from basic ecology; compare that to the moose/wolf dynamic on Isle Royale.

[OldNewYork]

Venison on the table would solve much of this problem.

[lwd]

Good idea...I already have a bag in the shed...thanks...

[green pastures]

His name didn’t happen to be Jack, did it?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks goodwithagun.

[bigheadfred]

I pee all over my yard at night in a helter skelter pattern. I even pee on it in winter but then I spell Mexican names and people think the neighbors did it....

[bigheadfred]

astroturf