Originally Posted by
teedub31
You might research the "exponential growth" issue. Ecological speaking deer are K strategists and will typically grow up to a land carrying capacity and then fluctuate in stasis within the land carrying capacity.
R strategists experience exponential growth. Exponential growth is followed drastic population reduction as the growth raped the land capacity of every resource available to the organism. Very few organisms (especially of higher order) are r strategists and experienience exponential growth patterns.
You are correct, but if you're going to discuss growth rates in that manner, it's also important to discuss S curves and J curves. A population that is truly balanced will fluctuate along some sort of S curve without much degradation of either the population or the environment (K strategists). A population that is out of control will increase sharply, and then crash (J curve). Some biologists theorize that if hunting were abolished, deer in some areas (e.g. where harsh winters or natural predators are absent) would actually act like an R strategist to some degree, if not as a pure R strategist. They'd quickly increase, degrade the environment, and then crash. Look at some of the enclosure studies that have been done where fences are erected to keep deer out of small areas to see what the vegetation composition would be without deer. High deer densities have a huge effect on the environment.
This is important to mention because it provides a solid rationale for hunting in areas with milder climates and no natural predators.