On the decline of ground lichen forests in the Swedish boreal landscape: Implications for reindeer husbandry and sustainable forest management

Abstract

Lichens are a bottleneck resource for circumpolar populations of reindeer, and as such, for reindeer husbandry as an indigenous Sami land-use tradition in northern Sweden. This study uses ground lichen data and forest information collected within the Swedish National Forest Inventory since 1953, on the scale of northern Sweden. We found a 71% decline in the area of lichen-abundant forests over the last 60years. A decline was observed in all regions and age classes and especially coincided with a decrease of >60year old, open pine forests, which was the primary explanatory factor in our model. The effects of reindeer numbers were inconclusive in explaining the decrease in lichen-abundant forest. The role that forestry has played in causing this decline can be debated, but forestry can have a significant role in reversing the trend and improving ground lichen conditions.

Keywords

Large-ungulate grazing; Long-term monitoring; Reindeer lichen; Traditional land-use; Swedish National Forest Inventory

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2016, volume: 45, number: 4, pages: 415-429

SLU Authors

• Sandström, Per

  • Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Cory, Neil

  • Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Svensson, Johan

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hedenås, Henrik

  • Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

Forest
Biodiversity
Use of FOMA data

Global goals (SDG)

SDG12 Responsible consumption and production
SDG15 Life on land

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology
Forest Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-015-0759-0

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/73867