%0 Review article
%T The role of moose as a disturbance factor in managed boreal forests
%A Edenius, Lars
%A Bergman, Margareta
%A Ericsson, Göran
%A Danell, Kjell
%D 2002
%J Silva Fennica
%V 36
%N 1
%R doi:10.14214/sf.550
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/550
%X We review the interactions between moose (Alces alces) and native tree  species in Fennoscandia. The Fennoscandian boreal forests have been  intensively managed for wood production over decades. Moose population  density is also relatively high in these northern forests. Forest  management affects habitat characteristics and food resources from  regeneration to final harvest, with the most significant effects  occurring early in the stand development. The plant-animal interactions  found in such a situation may be different from what has been observed  in natural boreal forests with low densities of moose (e.g. in North  America). The strong focus on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) in forest  regeneration in conjunction with a homogenisation of the landscape  structure by clear-cutting has favoured moose. Forest development is  controlled by man from regeneration to final harvest, and in relation to  human-induced disturbances the disturbance by moose is relatively  small, but occurs on different spatial levels. At the landscape level,  the most prominent effects of moose seem to be suppression and/or  redistribution of preferred browse species. At the forest stand level  moose primarily induce spatial heterogeneity by browsing patchily and  exploiting existing gaps. At the tree level, moose damage trees and  lower timber quality, but also create substrate types (e.g. dead and  dying wood) valuable for many organisms. Co-management of moose and  forest requires good monitoring programmes for both plants and animals,  as well as extensive ecological knowledge on the relations between moose  and their food plants on different spatial levels.