Waiotaka deer study area
The Waiotaka study area is in Kaimanawa Forest Park, which is east of Lake Taupo in the North Island.
The study area is situated south of the Waimarino River and north of the Waipakihi River, and includes the Umukarikari Range.
Map of the Waiotaka study area in the
Kaimanawa Forest Park
Podocarps like rimu, matai and miro grow at lower altitudes, followed by tracts of kamahi and red beech at mid-altitude and mountain beech closer to the treeline.
Whilst kamahi is a canopy tree that can regenerate as an epiphyte, red beech seedlings have no such escape from herbivores unless they grow up on fallen logs or root plates that deer cannot reach. This is the main reason the learning group decided to focus on red beech regeneration in response to deer control. Whilst beech is not a strongly preferred deer food, sika deer living in the Kaweka Range to the east of our study area slow the growth rate of mountain beech seedlings by eating the leaves. We decided to find out if this is also happening to red beech seedlings. If a red beech population failed to replace itself, it would be hard for conservation managers to help because there are important relationships between beech trees and soil fungi that would be difficult to restore.
We will also measure how the biomass of foliage is affected by deer control, for a range of plants eaten and avoided by deer and relate this to any change we discover in the average condition of deer as the population declines. From previous observations made by hunters, the condition of surviving sika deer improves when the population is suppressed by commercial venison hunting.