A sika deer population at an extremely high density (814 deer/km2) on Kinkazan Island in northeastern Japan heavily used a lawn grass, Zoysia japonica, community. Field experiments and behavior observations were done to determine the reason for this high use. The productivity of the Zoysia community was as high as 370 g/m2/year. The biomass concentration (150–180 g/cm3 below 5 cm) and the bite rate (about 50 times/min) were higher on the Zoysia community than those in the adjacent forest understory. These characteristics of the Zoysia community seem to attract the sika deer. The potential deer density supported was estimated as 1,840–,875 deer/km2 during the growing period. This was twice the achieved deer density.
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Ito, T.Y., Shimoda, M., Takatsuki, S. (2009). Productivity and Foraging Efficiency of the Short-Grass (Zoysia japonica) Community for Sika Deer. In: McCullough, D.R., Takatsuki, S., Kaji, K. (eds) Sika Deer. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-09429-6_10
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