Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia
Abstract In much of northern Sweden moose Alces alces browse rowan Sorbus aucuparia heavily and commonly revisit previously browsed plants. Repeated browsing of rowan by moose has created some concern for its long‐term survival in heavily browsed areas. We therefore measured how four years of simula...
Published in: | Wildlife Biology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2010
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/09-105 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/09-105 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/09-105 |
id |
crwiley:10.2981/09-105 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.2981/09-105 2024-09-09T18:56:32+00:00 Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia Jager, Nathan R. De Pastor, John 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/09-105 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/09-105 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/09-105 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Wildlife Biology volume 16, issue 3, page 301-307 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X journal-article 2010 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2981/09-105 2024-07-23T04:10:17Z Abstract In much of northern Sweden moose Alces alces browse rowan Sorbus aucuparia heavily and commonly revisit previously browsed plants. Repeated browsing of rowan by moose has created some concern for its long‐term survival in heavily browsed areas. We therefore measured how four years of simulated moose browsing at four population densities (0, 10, 30 and 50 moose/1,000 ha) changed plant height, crown width, available bite mass, the number of bites per plant and per plant forage biomass of rowan saplings. Increased biomass removal led to a significant decline in plant height (P < 0.001), but a significant increase in the number of bites per plant (P = 0.012). Increases in the number of bites per plant more than compensated for weak decreases in bite mass, leading to a weak increase in per plant forage biomass (P = 0.072). With the decline in plant height and increase in the number of stems per plant, a greater number of bites remain within the height reach of moose relative to unbrowsed controls. Moose therefore stand to benefit from revisiting previously browsed plants, which may result in feeding loops between moose and previously browsed rowan saplings. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Northern Sweden Wiley Online Library Wildlife Biology 16 3 301 307 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract In much of northern Sweden moose Alces alces browse rowan Sorbus aucuparia heavily and commonly revisit previously browsed plants. Repeated browsing of rowan by moose has created some concern for its long‐term survival in heavily browsed areas. We therefore measured how four years of simulated moose browsing at four population densities (0, 10, 30 and 50 moose/1,000 ha) changed plant height, crown width, available bite mass, the number of bites per plant and per plant forage biomass of rowan saplings. Increased biomass removal led to a significant decline in plant height (P < 0.001), but a significant increase in the number of bites per plant (P = 0.012). Increases in the number of bites per plant more than compensated for weak decreases in bite mass, leading to a weak increase in per plant forage biomass (P = 0.072). With the decline in plant height and increase in the number of stems per plant, a greater number of bites remain within the height reach of moose relative to unbrowsed controls. Moose therefore stand to benefit from revisiting previously browsed plants, which may result in feeding loops between moose and previously browsed rowan saplings. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jager, Nathan R. De Pastor, John |
spellingShingle |
Jager, Nathan R. De Pastor, John Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia |
author_facet |
Jager, Nathan R. De Pastor, John |
author_sort |
Jager, Nathan R. De |
title |
Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia |
title_short |
Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia |
title_full |
Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia |
title_fullStr |
Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of simulated moose Alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan Sorbus aucuparia |
title_sort |
effects of simulated moose alces alces browsing on the morphology of rowan sorbus aucuparia |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/09-105 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/09-105 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/09-105 |
genre |
Alces alces Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Alces alces Northern Sweden |
op_source |
Wildlife Biology volume 16, issue 3, page 301-307 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2981/09-105 |
container_title |
Wildlife Biology |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
301 |
op_container_end_page |
307 |
_version_ |
1809817687484792832 |