Long-term deer exclusion in yew-wood and oakwood habitats in southwest Ireland: Changes in ground flora and species diversity

Changes in ground flora were monitored over a 32-year period in deer exclosures in a yew-wood and a neighbouring oakwood in Killarney National Park, southwest Ireland; both woods are Annex I habitats under the European Habitats Directive. Comparison was made with unfenced plots adjacent to each of the exclosures. During the period of the study, both woods were heavily grazed by introduced sika deer (Cervus nippon). In the yew-wood exclosures, total ground flora cover increased markedly during the period of deer exclusion, the main species to increase in abundance being Rubus fruticosus agg. and Hedera helix. Herbaceous species increased initially in frequency but subsequently declined; herbaceous species had higher total cover in unfenced plots than in fenced plots at the end of the study. In the oakwood, Luzula sylvatica and Vaccinium myrtillus expanded their cover in one exclosure with cover in ferns declining, but in other exclosures where dense holly thickets developed, it was instead R. fruticosus and H. helix that became more abundant within the fences than outside. Overall, long-term fencing has caused a shift from vegetation characterised by woodland specialist to woodland generalist species and there are indications of a long-term decline in diversity. We conclude that chronic heavy grazing in these woodlands has strongly influenced the overall abundance and composition of the ground flora, but that complete exclusion of grazing is also undesirable due to potential declines in diversity of woodland specialists. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.