Ecological Archives E091-023-A5

Christopher D. Heckel, Norman A. Bourg, William J. McShea, and Susan Kalisz. 2010. Nonconsumptive effects of a generalist ungulate herbivore drive decline of unpalatable forest herbs. Ecology 91:319–326.

Appendix E. Results of the stepwise backward regression.

TABLE E1. Deer browse level on Trillium (% Trillium browsed) is the strongest predictor of the demographic metrics of unpalatable, unbrowsed Arisaema triphyllum across seven PA natural sites where the two species co-occur. Stepwise backward regression model was performed using % Trillium browsed, density of flowering Trillium, total Arisaema population density, and soil quality scores (PC1 from PCA – see Methods in main article) as predictors. Variables not listed in the table were not significant for that analysis.

Dependent Variable

Predictors

Model significance

Model R2

Coefficient (β)

t stat

P value

Reproductive plant size

 

0.001

0.98

 

 

 

 

% Trillium browsed

 

 

-0.12

-12.8

0.001

 

Soil quality score (PC1)

 

 

0.12

2.4

0.16

 

Flowering Trillium density

 

 

0.75

6.2

0.009

Population sex ratio

 

0.005

0.85

 

 

 

 

% Trillium browsed

 

 

1.55

5.6

0.005

 

Soil quality score (PC1)

 

 

-1.1

-0.47

0.67

 

Flowering Trillium density

 

 

3

0.73

0.51

Seed rain m-2

 

0.009

0.81

 

 

 

 

% Trillium browsed

 

 

-0.01

-4.7

0.009

 

Soil quality score (PC1)

 

 

-0.02

-1.4

0.24

 

Flowering Trillium density

 

 

-0.01

-0.46

0.68


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