Sammanfattning

Due to anthropogenic alteration of stand composition and landscape pattern in Swedish forest landscapes managed for industrial wood production, remnant patches of deciduous forests and woodlands do not form a functional green infrastructure for biodiversity conservation. We assessed if large herbivore browsing hampers the restoration of deciduous forest as green infrastructure by reducing the recruitment of boreal and temperate deciduous tree species of particular importance for biodiversity conservation. A natural experiment approach was applied in the distinct Swedish temperate-boreal forest gradient in Sweden. We measured the potential for saplings of aspen, rowan, sallow and oak to become recruited into the population of ecologically mature trees, as well as the amount of tree and field layer food. Sampling was made in forest stands representing four strata of managed forest landscapes accessible to large herbivores (experiment) and human settlements avoided by large herbivores (control). All four focal deciduous tree species had lower damage levels in controls (towns and villages) compared to experimental (forest) sites. While tree forage was much more abundant in controls, field layer forage in controls was not different from experimental stands. For all tree species except aspen we found a positive relationship between damage levels and large herbivore abundance, to which moose contributed > 89%. We discuss the role of research design for assessing the impact of large herbivores on plants, and highlight the need for integration of multi-species wildlife management as well as conservation planning and management.

Nyckelord

Biodiversity conservation; Macroecology; Habitat restoration; Moose; Ecosystem management; Spatial planning

Publicerad i

Landscape and Urban Planning
2017, Volym: 167, sidor: 368-377

SLU författare

• Angelstam, Per

  • Skogsmästarskolan, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Pedersen, Simen

  • Skogsmästarskolan, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • Høgskolen i Innlandet

• Elbakidze, Marine

  • Skogsmästarskolan, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Manton, Michael

  • Skogsmästarskolan, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • Aleksandras Stulginskis University

• Garrido, Pablo

  • Skogsmästarskolan, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Naumov, Vladimir

  • Skogsmästarskolan, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Associerade SLU-program

SLU Nätverk växtskydd


Globala målen

SDG15 Skydda, återställa och främja ett hållbart nyttjande av landbaserade ekosystem, hållbart bruka skogar, bekämpa ökenspridning, hejda och vrida tillbaka markförstöringen samt hejda förlusten av biologisk mångfald
SDG11 Göra städer och bosättningar inkluderande, säkra, motståndskraftiga och hållbara
SDG9 Bygga motståndskraftig infrastruktur, verka för en inkluderande och hållbar industrialisering samt främja innovation


UKÄ forskningsämne

Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.07.019

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/90108