Internationally, the impacts of deer have been widely studied, but little work has been conducted in Australia. Sambar (Cervus unicolor Kerr) were introduced to Victoria in the 1860s from Sri Lanka, and have become established throughout eastern Victoria. This study is located in the Yarra Ranges National Park, 100 km north east of Melbourne. The park primarily consists of three protected water catchments that contribute approximately 50% to Melbourne’s water supply. This study was conducted from 2005 to 2008 in the Upper Yarra and O’Shannassy catchments. Large open areas covered by forbs and grasses periodically form adjacent to the water body of the Upper Yarra reservoir. Sambar are frequently observed at the largest of these areas known as The Flats. The impacts of sambar at this locality and in other areas of the catchments were investigated. / Faecal pellet transect surveys determined that sambar occupancy and density was greatest on open flats, lower on forest edges adjacent to open flats (< 250 m), and significantly less in other forested areas of the catchment. Observations of The Flats revealed that hinds were the main demographic class represented, with a mean group size of 39 individuals, and up to 70. This is the largest aggregation of sambar ever reported anywhere in the world, and equates to an approximate density of 200 km-2 at this site. / Selective exclosures effectively differentiated the offtake of forage by sambar from that of native herbivores. Sambar contributed to the majority of offtake at The Flats, and were able to obtain a substantial proportion of their daily food requirements from this source. A culling program began in the Yarra Ranges National Park in May 2008, to reduce the large numbers of deer in the park. The cull reduced the time spent by sambar on The Flats, as determined by faecal pellet accumulation plots, and significantly reduced faecal pellet load and forage offtake. / Sambar significantly decreased relative foliage cover of shiny nematolepis (Nematolepis wilsonii), a threatened understorey tree, through their antler rubbing activities. Thrashing of shiny nematolepis saplings also significantly decreased relative foliage cover, with sambar selecting saplings with a larger stem diameter from those available. Rubbed trees and thrashed saplings experienced damage to, on average, over half the stem circumference. / Selective exclosures allowed differentiation of sambar and native herbivore browsing on forest understoreys. Browsing by sambar in high densities prevented the vertical growth of plants in the understorey, with branches above 60 cm in height most commonly browsed. Plants in the understorey were more frequently and intensely browsed in areas of high sambar density. Three species were browsed to a significantly greater extent by sambar than native herbivores: hazel pomaderris (Pomaderris aspera), prickly tea-tree (Leptospermum continentale) and prickly bush-pea, (Pultenaea juniperina). Sambar significantly reduced plant biomass in forest understoreys where they occur in high densities. / The presence of large, open herb-rich areas drives the high local densities and associated impacts of sambar within the Yarra Ranges National Park. Future areas of research are identified and management recommendations are outlined. A sustained culling program appears to be the only practical option to reduce sambar density and impacts at this locality.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2018-04-11T13:17:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Bruno Leite dos Anjos.pdf: 12893665 bytes, checksum: 99b4dd0f8ecdebb1f227aa0522ac061f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-11T13:17:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Bruno Leite dos Anjos.pdf: 12893665 bytes, checksum: 99b4dd0f8ecdebb1f227aa0522ac061f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-17 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico, CNPq, Brasil. / Cases of diseases induced by toxic plants in domestic herbivores are well reported throughout the world and have been studied also in Brazil. However, not much is known about the epidemiological and pathological aspectos of these conditions in free-living wildlife or bred in captivity. The risk for developing the toxicoses in captivity has been increasing, since natural habitats are destroyed by human action, and more centers of wildlife conservation and zoological comes are created. This study describes the epidemiological, biological and clinicopathological, lectin-histochemical and ultrastructural aspects of an outbreak of lysosomal storage disease of oligosaccharides induced by ingestion of Sida carpinifolia in young Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor) in the Rio-Zoo Foundation in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nine deer showed neurological signs characterized by motor and proprioceptive deficits. Then neurological signs were mainly depression, incoordination, dysmetria, ataxia, broad-based members, muscle tremors, loss of tongue tone, frequent falls and death. Grossly hematomas were observed secondary to trauma caused by dominant males of the flock, and whitish striations, especially in the renal cortex. Histologic changes included marked swelling/cytoplasmic vacuolization especially in neurons, progressing to neuronal lysis and axonal spheroids, in exocrine pancreas, thyroid follicular cells and renal tubular epithelial cells. In the lectin-histochemical examination the vacuoles were formed by the accumulation of oligosaccharides specially marked by the lectins WGA, WGA and Con-A. Ultrastructurally, the swelling/vacuolation corresponded to intense cytoplasmic distention of lysosomes, formation of residual bodies or dense granular fragments of membranes and mielinoides bodies. The study has shown the susceptibility of Cervus unicolor to swainsonine by ingestion of S. carpinifolia. Possibly poisoning the animals in this study was conducted by food restriction by the hierarchy among males in the group. It might also determine the marked similarity between clinical and pathological aspects in Sambar deer with the one presented by other herbivores. / Casos de doen?as induzidas por plantas t?xicas em herb?voros dom?sticos s?o bastante relatados por todo o mundo e v?m sendo estudados tamb?m no Brasil. Pouco se sabe, contudo, sobre os aspectos epidemiol?gicos e patol?gicos dessas condi??es em animais selvagens de vida livre ou criados em cativeiro. Os riscos de desenvolvimento dessas toxicoses em cativeiros v?m aumentando, conforme os habitats naturais s?o destru?dos pela a??o humana, e mais centros de conserva??o de vida silvestre e zool?gicos s?o criados. Nesse estudo s?o descritos os aspectos epidemiol?gicos, biol?gicos e clinicopatol?gicos, lectinohistoqu?micos e ultraestruturais de um surto de doen?a do armazenamento lisossomal de oligossacar?deos induzido pela ingest?o de Sida carpinifolia em cervos Sambar jovens (Cervus unicolor) no zool?gico da Funda??o Rio-Zoo no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Nove cervos apresentaram sinais cl?nicos neurol?gicos caracterizados por d?ficits proprioceptivo e motor. Os sinais neurol?gicos inclu?ram principalmente depress?o, incoordena??o, dismetria, ataxia, membros em base ampla, tremores musculares, perda do t?nus lingual, quedas frequentes e morte. Macroscopicamente foram observados hematomas, secund?rios a traumas provocados por machos dominantes do rebanho, e estria??es esbranqui?adas, principalmente no c?rtex renal. As les?es histol?gicas inclu?am acentuada tumefa??o/vacuoliza??o citoplasm?tica especialmente em neur?nios, p?ncreas ex?crino, c?lulas foliculares da tireoides e do epit?lio renal, necrose neuronal com evolu??o para lise e esferoides axonais. Pelo exame lectino-histoqu?mico os vac?olos eram formados por ac?mulo de oligossacar?deos marcado especialmente pelas lectinas S-WGA, WGA e Con-A. Ultraestruturalmente, a tumefa??o/vacuoliza??o citoplasm?tica correspondeu ? intensa distens?o de lisossomos, forma??o de corpos residuais densos ou granulares, fragmentos de membranas e corpos mielinoides. O estudo demonstrou a suscetibilidade de Cervus unicolor ? swainsonina contida na S. carpinifolia. Possivelmente, a intoxica??o nos animais deste estudo ocorreu pela restri??o alimentar sofrida pelos animais mais jovens, decorrente da hierarquia entre machos no grupo. P?de-se determinar ainda a marcada similaridade do quadro cl?nico e patol?gico entre os cervos descritos nesse trabalho e outros herb?voros dom?sticos.