Forest management and cervid herbivory data from Western Oregon, USA, 2012 (Community Data)

Land management practices often directly alter vegetation structure and composition, but the degree to which ecological processes such as herbivory interact with management to influence biodiversity is less well understood. We hypothesized that intensive forest management and large herbivores have compounding effects on early-seral plant communities and plantation establishment (i.e., tree survival and growth), and the degree of such effects is dependent on the intensity of management practices. We established 225 m2 wild ungulate (deer and elk) exclosures nested within a manipulated gradient of management intensity (no-spray Control, Light herbicide, Moderate herbicide and Intensive herbicide treatments), replicated at the scale of [...]