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Forage Preferences Of Mule Deer In The Lodgepole Pine Ecosystem, Ashley National Forest, Utah, Joseph A. Deschamp

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During the summer of 1976, five tame, trained mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus) were used to determine botanical composition and relative preference of mule deer diets on five habitat segments in the lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) ecosystem of northeastern Utah. Diets were statistically analyzed according to estimated weight consumption per unit of time spent feeding on the different segments. Habitat segments sampled were: clearcut forest, dry and wet meadow, mature forest, and stagnated forest.

Diets differed between segments mainly because of differences in plant species available and their abundance. The diets in the non-forested segments averaged …