Olalla Díaz-Yáñez, Blas Mola-Yudego, José Ramón González-Olabarria. (2017). What variables make a forest stand vulnerable to browsing damage occurrence? Silva Fennica vol. 51 no. 2 article id 1693. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1693

Keywords: moose; forest damage; cervid; machine learning; risk modelling; ungulates

Highlights: Stands more vulnerable to browsing damage are young with lower densities and dominated by birch, pine or mixed species; Stand size could play a role on forest susceptibility to browsing occurrence.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Ungulate browsing results in important damages on the forests, affecting their structure, composition and development. In the present paper, we examine the occurrence of browsing damage in Norwegian forests, using data provided by the National Forest Inventory along several consecutive measurements (entailing the period 1995–2014). A portfolio of variables describing the stand, site and silvicultural treatments are analyzed using classification trees to retrieve combinations related to browsing damage. Our results indicate that the most vulnerable forest stands are young with densities below 1400 trees ha^–1 and dominated by birch, pine or mixed species. In addition, stand diversity and previous treatments (e.g. thinnings) increase the damage occurrence and other variables, like stand size, could play a role on forest susceptibility to browsing occurrence although the latter is based on weaker evidence. The methods and results of our study can be applied to implement management measures aiming at reducing the browsing damages of forests.

Díaz-Yáñez, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3829-5759 E-mail: olalla.diaz@gmail.com
Mola-Yudego, Norwegian Institute of Bioenergy Research, P.O. Box, 115, 1431 Ås, Norway; School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0286-0170 E-mail: blas.mola@uef.fi
González-Olabarria, Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia (CTFC-CEMFOR), Ctra. de St. Llorenç de Morunys, km 2, 25280 Solsona, Spain http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5040-712X E-mail: jr.gonzalez@ctfc.es

article id 114, category Research article

Roy V. Rea. (2011). Impacts of moose (Alces alces) browsing on paper birch (Betula papyrifera) morphology and potential timber quality. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 2 article id 114. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.114

Keywords: deciduous; browse damage; forestry; hardwood; silviculture; ungulate; wood quality

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Rea, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC, Canada V2N 4Z9 E-mail: reav@unbc.ca

Category : Review article

article id 550, category Review article

Lars Edenius, Margareta Bergman, Göran Ericsson, Kjell Danell. (2002). The role of moose as a disturbance factor in managed boreal forests. Silva Fennica vol. 36 no. 1 article id 550. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.550

Keywords: management; boreal forest; disturbance; forestry; Alces alces; monitoring; herbivory; large ungulates; moose

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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.

Edenius, SLU, Department of Animal Ecology, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden E-mail: lars.edenius@szooek.slu.se
Bergman, SLU, Department of Animal Ecology, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden E-mail: mb@nn.se
Ericsson, SLU, Department of Animal Ecology, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden E-mail: ge@nn.se
Danell, SLU, Department of Animal Ecology, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden E-mail: kd@nn.se

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