Th
e ev
er growing pr
es
enc
e of r
ed d
eer (<
em>C
ervus
elaphus
em>) in th
e for
est p
erim
et
ers of th
e Lous? Mountain ar
ea of c
entral Portugal is causing local conflicts among stak
ehold
ers who r
eport damag
e to agricultur
e and for
est. On
e of th
e for
est p
erim
et
er r
egions (Lous?) has b
een s
el
ect
ed to d
ev
elop a Portugu
es
e Standard for th
e For
est C
ertification Syst
em (PEFCC). Th
e aim of this study was to d
et
ermin
e wh
eth
er any r
eal damag
e or impact caus
ed by r
ed d
eer had in fact occurr
ed in th
e ar
ea. Four typ
es of for
est cov
er w
er
e consid
er
ed and nin
e plots (150 m
2) w
er
e randomly s
el
ect
ed within
each typ
e. All tr
ees w
er
e r
ecord
ed and th
e diam
et
er at br
east h
eight (dbh) was m
easur
ed. Th
e charact
eristics of marks of
each rubb
ed tr
ee w
er
e r
ecord
ed. Th
e amount of foliag
e browsing was
estimat
ed visually as a p
erc
entag
e exc
ept in situations of r
eg
en
eration wh
er
e th
e total numb
er of consum
ed l
ead
er or lat
eral shoots was count
ed. Th
e shrub lay
er was scor
ed according to h
eight and cov
er. Altitud
e and distanc
e to th
e n
ear
est villag
e, riv
er or national road w
er
e m
easur
ed in
each plot to analys
e th
eir influ
enc
e on th
e d
egr
ee of damag
e. Clust
er analysis allow
ed us to obs
erv
e a damag
e patt
ern across th
e study plots that s
eparat
ed browsing damag
e from fraying damag
e. Pin
e r
eg
en
eration typ
e v
eg
etation suff
er
ed significant damag
e by browsing but th
e p
erc
entag
e of damag
e du
e to fraying was not significantly diff
er
ent b
etw
een for
est typ
es. Som
e sp
eci
es of tr
ees, such as sw
eet ch
estnut (<
em>Castan
ea sativa
em>), w
er
e mor
e susc
eptibl
e to fraying damag
e. In all cas
es, d
eer cl
early pr
ef
err
ed rubbing on th
e small
est tr
ees.
A classification tree where the percentage of rubbed trees was the response variable, showed that diameter at breast height (dbh), distance to national road and the number of trees were primary contributors to probability of damage. We propose that new indicators should be introduced into the certification process and that there is also a need to find a balance between different stakeholders?interests and wildlife.