TOPICS:  Ecology, behavior, botany, nutrition, mammals

LEVEL:  High school

TIME:  1-3 hours. This activity may be done as a class at a nature center, as homework, or as an independent study.

ADVANCE PREPARATION:  Select or recommend suitable sites for your students to do their field work.  Students who live in rural environments may be able to do this activity at home over a weekend.  Make certain that students have the necessary equipment and review the SAFETY NOTE below.  Some time may be spent teaching students to identify typical deer foods, as well as "stuffer" plants (See Activities 6 and 7) .

PREDICTION: In class discussion, encourage creative, logical, and critical thinking. We recommend that you introduce the following ideas if the are not suggested by students: In general, the ecotone provides more food to deer at an appropriate height than the mature forest.  A mature forest produces 6-13 kg/ha (5-12 lbs/acre) of new vegetation per year; the ecotone may produce as much as 335-450 kg/ha (300-400 lb/acre) .

SAFETY NOTE: Students should NOT work alone in unfamiliar locations.  Groups of 2 to 3 are recommended.  Try to insure that no one gets lost by providing maps and compasses of the areas to be studied.  You may wish to check out student map and compass skills. Be sure that everyone is advised on proper winter clothing .

STEP C2. Emphasize to students that they must collect deer browse within the parameters that a deer would feed .

STEP D. If done as a class activity, set up a base to which students will report to weigh their plants.

QUESTIONS 6-8 require higher-order thinking skills.  We recommend that you discuss these questions in class before having students write out their answers .

2-3. Answers will vary .

4-5. Answers will vary. In general, wooded areas adjacent to fields (ecotone) provides more high-quality food to deer at an appropriate height than the mature forest .

6. Answers will vary.  Students should estimate the number of hours it would have taken them to collect 3-6 kg of deer browse, the amount a deer must find each day to live in winter .

7. The quantity of deer food is usually related to the diversity of plants in the community.  Edge plant communities are usually more diverse than mature forest, and offer more food to deer .

8. Answers will vary.  Mature forests have the highest branches, and may have the deepest snow because trees reduce wind velocity and retard melting. These factors should increase the time it takes to collect food, reducing food quantity available in the forest.