Hierarchical path analysis of deer responses to direct and indirect effects of climate in northern forest

Abstract

A problem in climate studies has been on how to treat causal chains of explanations and both direct and indirect effects. Mammals in strongly seasonal environments of the boreal forest typically lose condition during winter and gain mass (and reproduce) during the summer season when biomass and plant quality peak. Mass decay of large herbivores during winter is due to direct effects of winter weather, such as increased costs of movement, thermoregulation and reduced access to food when snow is deep. Deer condition during summer is thought to be affected mainly indirectly by weather through plants. High spring temperature speeds up plant development, and deep snow can delay phenology in early summer. Current statistical modelling does not take into account these mechanistic pathways. We used hierarchical Bayes modelling to more mechanistically link global climate, local weather and plant phenology to autumn body mass of red deer in Norway. Red deer were much more affected indirectly through trophic interactions. No solid evidence of direct effects of snow depth was found on autumn body mass. We discuss the implications of our results relative to our ability to predict effects of global change on large mammalian herbivores in the boreal forest.