Abstract Detail

Interactions of White-Tailed Deer and Invasive Plants in Forests of Eastern North America

McShea, William [1], Bourg, Norman [2], Reed, Elizabeth [3], Ramachandran, Padmini [3], Ottesen, Andrea [3], Erickson, David [3].

The potential of NGS-metagenomics to determine plant species in the diet of white-tailed deer, and its use to deduce the consumption of exotic and native species.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are widespread herbivores in the eastern deciduous forests of North America. Increasingly high densities of deer have been implicated in changing compositions of herbaceous and woody plant communities in many forest ecosystems. The critical role of herbivory in structuring natural communities is widely accepted, although herbivory is implicated in both promoting and reducing diversity of plant communities. Deer herbivory is thought to disrupt successional pathways and support invasion of native ecosystems by exotic plant species. While increased abundance of deer populations appears to correlate with increased incidence of invasive plant species, data supporting a causal link is scarce. It remains unclear whether white-tailed deer contribute to invasive plant spread by preferential herbivory of native plant species. To address this question, we used a metabarcoding approach (PCR amplicons of rbcl gene) to survey the diet of white-tailed deer (fecal samples), from a forested site with a comprehensive and highly curated plant species inventory and corresponding reference collection of plant barcode and chloroplast sequences. We sampled fecal pellet piles and extracted DNA from 12 individual deer in October 2014. These samples were compared to a reference DNA library of plant species collected within study area. For 73.2% of the amplicons, we were able to assign taxonomy at the species level, which provides for the first time – sufficient taxonomic resolution to quantify the relative frequency at which native and invasive plant species are being consumed by Odocoileus virginianus. Species level diversity ranged from 29–57 OTUs per sample and over 86% of all plant barcodes recovered were from native plant species. When compared to the abundance of native and non-natives inventoried in the sampled community, our results support the observation that white-tailed deer have strong forage preferences which may promote some introduced species.

1 - Smithsonian, Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Rd, Front Royal, VA, 22630, USA
2 - U.S. Geological Survey, National Research Program - Eastern Branch, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 430, Reston, VA, 20192, USA
3 - Food and Drug Administration, Molecular Methods and Subtyping Branch, Dividion of Microbiology, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5100 Paint Branch Rd, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

Keywords:
white-tailed deer
metagenomics
invasive plants
fecal samples.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C1, Interactions of white-tailed deer and invasive plants in forests of eastern North America
Location: Chatham Ballroom - C/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 5:00 PM
Number: C1013
Abstract ID:126
Candidate for Awards:None