Selective herbivory by white-tailed deer is associated with demographic and compositional bottlenecks across forest regeneration stages in the National Capital Region

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in eastern North America now exceed historical levels, imposing intense browsing pressure on forest regeneration where hunting is limited. Using National Park Service monitoring data (2013–2023) from the National Capital Region Network, we analyzed 9459 seedlings and 6015 saplings of 71 and 64 species, respectively, from 430 plots over 10 years spanning a gradient of low to very-high deer impact. Mixed-effects models that accounted for repeated sampling of plots showed that per-plot seedling richness declined substantially with deer impact (P