Relationships between deer damage to experimental apple orchards and nearby habitat
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Date
1988
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
The relationship between damage to apple orchards by white-tailed deer and surrounding habitat was examined. Habitat analysis utilizing aerial photographs, habitat maps and ground checks was combined with deer damage and deer population indicies to determine the best model for the prediction of deer damage. The lengths of roads was found to be the variable most highly correlated with deer damage (r=0.87, p=0.05). Other variables highly correlated to deer damage or deer population indicies included the amounts of woods and cultivated land. The stepwise regression model sugested that the amounts of roads and water on a study area would explain 99.9% of the variation in deer damage. Sample size was the major problem in this study; a sample size of 135.5 was determined to be necessary for the acceptable 10% accuracy at a 0.05 confidence limit level. Future studies were deemed necessary, and solutions to the problems encountered were suggested.