Restoration of three forest herbs in the Liliaceae family by manipulating deer herbivory and overstorey and understorey vegetation

Published source details Huebner C.D., Gottschalk K.W., Miller G.W. & Brose P.H. (2010) Restoration of three forest herbs in the Liliaceae family by manipulating deer herbivory and overstorey and understorey vegetation. Plant Ecology & Diversity, 3, 259-272.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Use wire fencing to exclude large native herbivores Action Link
	Use prescribed fire: effect on understory plants Action Link
	Thin trees within forests: effects on understory plants Action Link

Use wire fencing to exclude large native herbivores

A replicated, controlled study in 2002-2008 in temperate broadleaf forest in Pennsylvania, USA (Huebner et al. 2010) found that excluding herbivores increased fruit production and the cover of some under-canopy species. Six years after treatment the total number of fruit/plot (fenced: 20-430; unfenced: 0-1), relative cover of the palatable herbaceous species painted trillium Trillium undulatum, sessile bellwort Uvularia sessilifolia and Indian cucumber-root Medeola virginiana (fenced: 0-3%; unfenced: <1%), cover of bramble Rubus spp. (fenced: 1%-25%; unfenced: <1%) and the number of tree saplings (fenced: 0-2; unfenced: <1.0/m²) were higher in fenced than unfenced plots. The cover of hay-scented fern Dennstaedtia punctilobula was similar between treatments (0-70%). Data were collected in 2008 in three blocks of 12 fenced (2 m tall fence with 10 × 10 cm openings) and 12 unfenced plots (50 × 80 m). Plots were established in 2002 in an area subjected to high and constant deer herbivory pressure.
Use prescribed fire: effect on understory plants

A replicated, controlled study in 2004-2008 in temperate broadleaf forest in Pennsylvania, USA (Huebner et al. 2010) found that prescribed fire decreased fruit production but not the cover of some herbaceous species. Four years after treatment, the total number of fruit/plot for three herbaceous species: painted trillium Trillium undulatum, sessile bellwort Uvularia sessilifolia, and Indian cucumber root Medeola virginiana was lower in burned plots (burned: 0-380; unburned: 0-430), while their relative cover (0-3%) was similar between treatments. Cover of bramble Rubus spp. (1-25%) and hay-scented fern Dennstaedtia punctilobula (0-70%) and the number of tree saplings (0.0-1.8/m²) were similar between treatments. Data was collected in 2008 in three blocks of 12 burned (prescribed fire on May 2004) and 12 unburned plots (50 × 80 m).
Thin trees within forests: effects on understory plants

A replicated, controlled study in 2004-2008 in temperate broadleaf forest in Pennsylvania, USA (Huebner et al. 2010) found that tree thinning increased the cover of bramble Rubus spp. and fern as well as tree saplings density, but did not affect fruit production and cover of some herbaceous species. Cover of bramble (thinned: 0%-27%; unthinned: 0%-3%) and hay-scented fern Dennstaedtia punctilobula (thinned: 0%-70%; unthinned: 0%-33%), as well as number of tree saplings/m² (thinned: 0.0-1.8; unthinned: 0.0-0.4) were higher in thinned plots. Total number of fruit/plot for three herbs: painted trillium Trillium undulatum, sessile bellworth Uvularia sessilifolia, and Indian cucumber root Medeola virginiana (0-430) as well as their relative cover (0-3%) were similar between treatments. Data were collected in 2008 in three blocks of 16 thinned (10-30% of basal area removed in 2001-2002) and eight unthinned plots (50 × 80 m) each.