Plant height inside and outside of a deer-proof fence in the Otome Highland, Yamanashi, central Japan

Abstract

In the last decade, as with many locations in Japan, the number of sika deer (Cervus nippon) has increased in the Otome Highland in Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan. This is a semi-natural grassland composed of wildflowers, which has been maintained by mowing after a forest was logged in the 1950s. To evaluate the effects of deer grazing, deer-proof fences were established in May 2010 and the heights of representative species were compared inside and outside a fence in 2011 and 2012. Most of the forbs measured displayed better height growth inside the fence, but the heights of Miscanthus sinensis, a tall grass and Eupatorium chinense subsp. sachalinense, an unpalatable forb did not differ inside and outside the fence. This suggests that deer grazing is heavy despite it being only a short period since the invasion of the deer, and it suppresses most of the forbs but favors Miscanthus sinensis.