Master of Science Candidate

STUDENT BACKGROUND

My name is Nathan Kelley.  I grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas and was introduced to the outdoors at a very early age.  I graduated from Incarnate Word Academy High school in 2003.  I then decided to head to Lubbock,Texas to pursue a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Management from Texas Tech University.  I am currently pursuing a Masters Degree from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

THESIS PROJECT

The Effects of Deer Density on Vegetation when Supplemental Feed is Utilized

Supplemental feeding white-tailed deer is becoming an increasingly common method for increasing the overall nutritional diet of the herd. Larger body weights and larger antler size has been seen in supplementally fed deer.  There may be some negative effects of using supplemental feed. Deer may become more selective in browse and forb choice. They may choose only the most palatable plants to consume.  If this happens, degradation of white-tailed deer habitat may be seen through less frequency of these “ice cream” plants and lowering overall plant species diversity and richness.  I will be studying the effects of three different deer densities on the vegetation when supplemental feed is incorporated into their diet.  I will use several different sampling methods to carry out my research.  These include sampling biomass, vegetation, canopy cover, and plant species richness.