Reply to McDonald et al.: Climate change, not deer herbivory, has shaped species decline in Concord, Massachusetts
- Charles G. Willis,
- Brad Ruhfel,
- Richard B. Primack,
- Abraham J. Miller-Rushing and
- Charles C. Davis,1
- Harvard University, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
McDonald et al. (1) suggest that browsing by white-tailed deer, rather than climate change (2), may better explain the phylogenetic pattern of species decline in Concord, MA.
To address this concern we reanalyzed our data to include a binary measure of deer browsing preference based on three studies (3–5). This trait was coded and analyzed …
1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cdavis{at}oeb.harvard.edu
